Assassins: The Warriors
by Paine jnr
Summary: Two nations in one woman; united by blood, divided by destiny. How long can Ruby's real identity remain secret? Who are the Assassins and their leader, Anansi? Paine and Baralai must soon find a meaning behind a legend...
1. Ruby

The Warriors: Ruby

"3…2…1…fight!"

I looked around to see where my first attacker would come from, listening, my whole body tense and alert. She came from behind me. I swung my sword as I heard hers whistle down through the air towards my back and knocked it away with one powerful blow. I met my challenger's sparkling green eyes with my own fiercely blood-red ones. I recognised her as Emerald, the emerald-eyed Al Bhed who was the latest addition to the Warriors. I took it easy on her, not wanting to hurt her feelings by thrashing her, which I knew I could. She put up a good fight, but I soon defeated her, knocking her sword out of her hand and keeping her pinned down for five seconds before she got called out.

She reminded me a lot of Rikku, but I kept my guilt in line.

The next warrior, Gold, came from my left, followed quickly by Silver who came from my right. The two athletic and speedy twins did matrix-style flips over me, then struck me from different sides. I dodged and struck out at Silver, who only just managed to parry, but her sword slipped out of her hands. Gold distracted me while Silver went to reclaim her weapon.

If only the Gullwings could see me fight now.

I quickly claimed the upper hand over Gold, then knocked her out of the way and parried Silver's blow. I kicked her away, Then flipped away backwards twice, and on my third one I collected Emerald's sword while on my hands, before landing back on my feet. Now I could face both of them.

Gold and Silver both came at me at the same time. I blocked both of the blows then began duelling both of them at the same time. My swift and powerful blows took them by surprise. As I was only applying for a place in the warriors and they only had my word to go on of my experience, the two older girls hadn't expected me to be so tough. They were forced to defend themselves and bide their time.

Slowly I whittled away their stamina, then brought out powerful blows that sent Silver flying and knocked Gold to the ground. They both were down for five seconds before being called out.

This was way better than fighting fiends and doing silly little ticket-selling missions.

Second to last came Onyx, the black-haired warrior I hadn't spoken to. Apparently she was the only one in the group who could put up a decent fight against their leader, and I could see immediately from the force of her charge and the way she held her sword she was a strong, seasoned fighter. She was fast too, but I succeeded in ducking to the side as she brought the sword down. She was determined, I could tell, and fresh, but although I was tiring I had more determination still. I pulled away and ran to the opposite side of the glade. We circled each other for a couple of seconds, then Onyx charged again and I dodged. I felt like one of those bullfighters from your world. I soon found that this was her weakness: she succumbed too easily to traps.

Perhaps if she knew she was really fighting Paine, she would be a bit more afraid. Perhaps if I still had my warrior dressphere, I'd have an edge.

She charged several times while I ducked. I could see the watching Warriors shaking their heads and muttering at the way she had fallen for my trap. As soon as she showed signs of tiring I picked up the pace. Onyx sensed it too, and tried even harder. She charged again, and I ducked. She charged again, and suddenly I fought back with my sword, letting Emerald's fall to the ground. I held the upper hand as surprise held Onyx back for a fraction of a second, then she fought back and neither of us had it.

A couple of passers-by had stopped to watch the rare spectacle. That or they were attracted by my likeness to the 'Lady' Paine. If only they knew.

Onyx was slightly nearer my level of tiredness now, and we were equally matched. I put still more effort into my attacks, although it caused me to weaken quicker. Suddenly, I had the upper hand again and I was raining blows down upon Onyx that took even her by surprise. My arms were aching and sweat was dripping off my brow, so I finished the fight quickly by flipping over her, wiping my forehead and swinging my sword all in one motion, making Onyx drop the sword. I landed and forced her to the ground. After five seconds she was called off.

I stood there panting while she grabbed her sword and scuttled away. For about ten seconds I had a breather, before the leader of the Warriors stepped towards me.

Diamond was tall for her age, as was I, and we were both the same age, meaning we were exactly the same height. She had first held a sword when she was two, and before she could even walk she had a mini sword of her own and had little sword-fights with her father while her mum held her on her lap. When she could walk her father started teaching her simple moves, and as soon as she could talk understandably her dad taught her every day. By the age of five she had mastered all the simple moves, knew quite a few harder ones, could hold a decent duel with her father and could flip, run faster than any of the other children she knew and had killed numerous fiends, accompanied by her father.

When I was five my parents were dead. I was at an orphanage, training myself in the ways of the warrior to escape the dreariness of my days.

When she was eight she had mastered all the most complicated moves and had saved the village from fiends and sinspawn countless times. When her town was attacked by sin when she was nine, she saved most of her neighbours by hiding them in cellar and defending them from the sinspawn with her mother and father. She could use all spells of black magic at each level, having being taught by her mother. Everyone in the village knew her name, but somehow, nobody outside the village heard of her.

When I was eight, I had run away from the orphanage. I was just another homeless orphan on the streets of Luca.

After that, Diamond continued training until she was fifteen. Then she left home and trained by herself and on the day she turned sixteen she formed the warriors after meeting Onyx. Gold was added a year later, and the next week Silver was chosen to come along for the journey. And Emerald signed up just before I, Yuna and Rikku defeated Vegnagun.

When I was fifteen I was nearly ready to sign up for the Crimson Squad. On the day I was sixteen, I joined up and was made a recorder for Nooj, Baralai and Gippal.

But that was Paine. I have to push her and her memories to the back of my mind, lest my knowledge gives me away as the woman who previously went by that name.

I've changed so much in this past year. My hair is now a long, silver river that goes down past my hips, almost like Lenne's was. I've changed my outfit, too. I've abandoned those bloody garment grids. My outfit now is like loosely fitting black robes, but not heavy like the ones the maesters and priests wear. It's actually very light. As for the style, it's sort of Ninja-Samurai, and all that can usually be seen of my face is my eyes.

Hence, my new name: Ruby.

I'd like to be called Crimson, but that would be far too obvious and besides, that would give me away as Paine. Besides, when you join the Warriors you change your name to that of a gemstone, just to show that it's still a very feminine group. Saves me the bother of changing it again.

I have given up trying to face and forget my past. I've always wondered if I should just run away and leave it that way.

This time I have.


	2. Diamond

The Warriors: Diamond

"You did well." Diamond nodded at me. She moved with a strange elegance, totally unsuited to her. It was quiet and understated. You wouldn't expect her to hold much presence in a room, yet somehow all eyes were attracted to her. Her boots were long, white over the whole with blue stripes and stretched over her knee, almost making her appear like a dancer. Her short, lime green skirt concealed white shorts, fashionable yet practical; you didn't want to wear anything too fluttery as a warrior. Her long-sleeved top was white, with intricate blue patterning, and clung onto her skin without being restrictive. She almost seemed perfect, with her crystalline eyes and matching sky blue hair; but there seemed to be a strange sort of plainness about her. If she had no skill in the sword or on the battlefield, you would assume she would have become a demure and shy lady.

"Your skill surpassed anything I could have expected of you." Diamond continued, still pacing around. Her sword, similar to mine but with an interesting line of blue, hung off a simple belt around her waist and trailed on the floor. The hilt continued her subtle hints at being uncomplicated; apart from a tiny dragon's head at the end, the metal was all the same shade of blue and came out in simple lines.

I stood up straight, defiant. I wouldn't let her praise soften me and I wouldn't fall victim to her pretty half-smile.

"What is your name?" Diamond asked.

My arms remained tense, ready for a sudden attack. She could easily be luring me into a false sense of security. "That doesn't matter. I'll change it if I join you, and if I don't join you then you have no right or need to know."

Her grin became amused and a slight murmur of a laugh caught in her throat. "You may rest before fighting me. I think you'll find you need it."

That was completely unexpected. My face, a previous wall of neutrality, betrayed my shock and outrage. I could have a rest before battling her? I'd _need_ it? What was she implying by _that_ remark?

"Are you assuming I'm weak?" I accused her, holding her crystal blue eyes with my own crimson ones.

"No, I'm merely stating that you need a rest. You've fought four warriors. One was new and two were a pair of medium skill and highly advanced teamwork which you took on at the same time, a challenging task for even the most skilled warriors. You also took on a very experienced and skilled warrior, and fought her with your utmost skill for the quickest finish possible."

"She fell to my trap too easily." I smirked. Whenever I was trying for a new group I tried to come across cold and selfish. I would slowly open up – a little, for teamwork's sake – because, as you will find, my character changed in the year before I joined the Warriors.

"I must agree." Diamond nodded again.

"If you think I won't take you on now, however, you are very much mistaken." I answered.

Diamond sighed and shook her head. Perhaps my decision was ill founded but I never stop until I drop down dead; it's my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. I guess I'm too proud. She drew her sword. I noted now that it was a long, double handed, powerful weapon that could be wielded with great force.

Yuna would have said it was like Sir Auron's blade.

She charged at me with great force and speed: I parried with enough force required after judging hers. She spun away and attacked at me. Her skill was like nothing I had ever seen before, so I put every ounce of energy and determination left into beating her.

Slowly my stamina and energy whittled away, but I didn't let that weaken me. My limbs were stiff from my rest as I parried Diamond's quick and powerful attacks, but I forced them to move as quickly and forcefully as she was. She flipped over me and I ducked, avoiding the swipe of her sword, and then rose to meet her next attack.

I felt my sword begin to slip out of my sweaty hand. I flipped away, taking one hand off my sword and wiping it on my flying robes, which gave me a slightly better grip.

Finally, we both charged at each other and were both knocked away by the force of the other's attack. I tried to get up, but realised my sword was far away from me. I heard Diamond get up and forced my limbs to do the same, jogging away to fetch my sword and panting heavily. I heard her battle cry as she charged and met her attack with less strength than before.

Slowly, fatigue began to sweep over me and my attacks became weaker and weaker. Suddenly, Diamond's sword grazed my arm, inflicting a fairly deep wound I knew would scar. Pain coursed up through my arm, stiffening it.

I forced myself to battle on, one-handed, but I was so slow that my sword was soon knocked out of my hand and, without Diamond even touching me, fatigue and pain overcame me and I fell unconscious.

**[Two Days Later]**

I awoke to find myself in a room, lying on a bed, with my mind as blank as the summer sky. What was I doing there? Where was I? How had I got there?

Of course, the memories of the fights the previous day came flooding back. I rolled over to my left, wanting to test my mobility, but my left arm suddenly burned with pain and I went back on to my front. I tried sitting up, and thankfully that worked. My arm was in a sling. Had Diamond's attack broken it as well as wounded it? Grudgingly, I had to hand it to the woman; she could really right.

I got off the bed and stretched my right arm. It felt stiff and it hurt slightly. I sighed. "Lactic acid…" I muttered under my breath, and slowly went through my body, trying to rid my muscles of the stuff. As I did so, I looked around, and found my sword against the wall. When I finished, I picked it up, sheathed it and then walked out of the room.

I found myself under that same, cloudless, summer sky and realised it wasn't a room. It was one of the wooden huts in Kilika Port. The fights had been in Kilika Woods, so it was little surprise to find myself here. I stepped away from the hut, and when I looked back at it I recognised it as the headquarters of the Warriors, one of the largest huts in the port.

I walked away and through the village, looking for the others. This was annoying because wherever I went people pointed at me and whispered. I shot glares at them and walked on. Whenever I asked people where the Warriors were they just shrugged.

Finally I came across Emerald, near to Dona's hut. "Emerald, is that you?" I asked the young Al Bhed.

Emerald swung round. She grinned at me in a Rikku way that shot a painful spear of guilt through my heart. "You're awake!" she exclaimed.

"No, I'm a zombie. How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days." Emerald said, counting on her fingers. "Diamond was thinking of leaving without you if you didn't wake up."

"Erm…leaving?" I asked, confused. I didn't know we were leaving already._ If they're taking me it must mean I'm in_, I thought and mentally punched the air with glee.

"Yeah, we've got a new assignment!" Emerald grinned, with a thoroughly Rikku air of excitement. This would be hard to deal with. "We're going to-" she caught herself mid-sentence, and said, "Don't worry, we've got mission briefing at HQ in five minutes, you'll find out then."

"Is my arm broken or something?" I asked her, just in case it was.

"No, but you sprained your wrist while fighting." Emerald explained. "You put too much effort into it, Diamond said. She'll talk to you about it some other time. By the way, who taught you to fight? I've never seen a style quite like yours."

"I taught myself." I replied.

"Ah." Emerald nodded. Despite being Rikku-like, she seemed to know a fair deal about swords. It was weird; sword wasn't the weapon of choice for most Al Bhed. "Anyway, let's head over to HQ. By the time we get there, MB will be about to start."

"MB?" I asked, curiously.

"Mission briefing." Emerald explained. "Come on. Diamond's been upstairs all this time, so she's probably wondering where you got to, anyway."

We walked along the port together and soon joined up with Onyx. She seemed to have forgiven me for insulting her, so I was thankful. Gold and Silver were waiting for us outside, and we all went in together.

Diamond was standing at the window looking worried. When we came in she immediately looked at me with surprise and said; "There you are! I was getting worried."

"It's ok, I was just taking a little walk." I reassured her. Her concern surprised me. I wasn't used to warriors showing such emotion as these people; but they were all girls, so of course they wouldn't feel the gender pressure around each other.

"Let someone know next time you wake up from a comatose state and decide to go for a gander." Diamond gave me the sort of look an older sister would give, then looked at everyone. "We're about to start MB. Take a seat."

As the others took positions dotted around the room, Diamond pulled down a translucent covering for the windows and pinned up some pictures, one, to my surprise, of Baralai. "As most of you will know, Praetor Baralai has recently survived an assassination attempt by this man, who was unfortunately killed in the attempt." Diamond pointed at another picture of a powerful man, dressed ninja style. "Although his name and place of origin remain a secret, from his dress and methods we have gathered that he is part of the group, aptly named, the Assassins."

Diamond pointed towards a group photo of men similarly dressed. All were in typical ninja uniforms, but with adjustments; their black clothes appeared more like robes, reaching to the floor, though the dress for women was much more figure hugging. Many had stripes of different colours down the sleeves, no doubt to represent ranking. None wore belts of lots of little devices; they were probably hidden under the layers of the cloaks and robes, and each held a favourite weapon in their hand.

"We have been hired, along with the famed sphere hunter group the Gullwings…"

Emerald, surprisingly perceptive, was the only one to notice how my eyes widened at the name.

"…to take turns in guarding Praetor Baralai. Whilst doing so, we must track down this group and either capture or kill them. We will discuss that when we get to Bevelle."

Diamond sighed and picked up another picture, obviously not happy with what was to come. To my horror, it was a picture of me with the Gullwings, posing on the Celsius roof. My heart sank with such a huge _thump_, the whole room must have heard it. I knew what must be coming next.

"There is a rather…_inconvenient_ twist." Diamond added.

_You're telling _me_, _I thought.

"The Gullwings have only agreed to this task if, as well as finding the Assassins, we help them find their friend Paine. Paine, as you know has been missing for a year. She was last sighted a month after she ran away, in Macalania Woods, fighting fiends. After being spotted, she knocked out the witness and escaped after dropping him off at the travel agency."

It was hard not to hold back a laugh. _Poor Isaaru._

"It is not known whether she is dead or alive."

The nervous laughter was giving it a good go at escaping my throat.

"High Summoner Yuna has requested that if anyone has any information regarding the location of Paine to come forward. She thought we were ideal for the mission because we are warrior females, as is Paine, and we may have a better understanding of what she has done or where she has gone. This is what I wish to discuss after MB."

Everyone nodded.

"Anyhow, back to the basic plan. I have been in touch with the Gullwings and our plan is this." Diamond put up a map of the floor where Baralai's office was situated. "Silver and Gold will guard the staircases at either end of the passageway, _here_ and _here_. Rikku will be situated along the corridor and will be back-up for either of the two on the stairs. Two of the three new members of the Gullwings, Kewa and Ditsup, will take it in turns to guard the Praetor. Onyx will sometimes fill in for them."

Onyx nodded in acceptance of her role.

"That will leave me, Emerald, High Summoner Yuna, Buddy, Brother and Shinra, the other new Gullwing, Calli, sometimes Onyx and…erm…"

_Calli's a Gullwing?_

"What's your name now?" Diamond asked me.

I looked at her. "Ruby, if that's ok." I replied.

"Good…and Ruby, to go after the Assassins and either capture or kill them. Any questions before we discuss the subject of Paine?"

Emerald raised her hand. "What information do we have on the Assassins?"

"All of that is currently being kept at Bevelle and we will examine it when we arrive. It's not public information. Anyone else?" she asked, and when nobody replied she continued, "Now, onto the subject of Paine."

I pretended to yawn hoping that I would be sent back to bed and away from the conversation, and perceptive but gullible Emerald saw me. "Diamond, Ruby's tired. Do you think she should go back to bed?"

"Yes, perhaps she should. I'll explain everything to you in the morning." Diamond said.

"This way." Emerald said. She led me up the stairs to a different room. "This will be your room here at HQ, for as long as you're in the Warriors." Emerald explained. "Night! I'll brief you on our developments when you wake up."

"Night." I replied as she closed the door, thoroughly wishing I wouldn't wake up. I changed into my nightclothes and got into bed. It was a very comfortable bed, and I relaxed into it almost immediately.

_What if Baralai recognises me?_ My thoughts were uncontrollable but predictable._ Would he tell, or would he go along with it and just pretend he didn't know?_

A knot arose in my chest and I sighed, thinking of it. There was certainly a mix of emotions to be experienced if I went down _that_ lane, all of them confusing.

Things would be awkward, definitely; Baralai – and the Gullwings – would constantly be reminded of Paine with every look into my eyes. I would know it and so would they. I don't think I need to tell you why Baralai was always at the forefront of my mind, besides, I'd probably turn into a gushy, pathetic, emo mess of confused emotions that you've heard countless times before. It was one of the reasons I ran away; the secret one, not the ones known to Yuna and Rikku before I ran away about media pressure. No; I was becoming far too close to the Gullwings and the people around them. I was even beginning to feel a sort of real love for them, particularly Baralai, as you will have guessed. My experiences of love aren't like everyone else's; I know that there is wonder involved, and all too often, heartbreak. But every time I've become close to someone, I've lost them. Whether it be to Sin or Shuyin, everyone I have felt a genuine love for has perished early.

I was scared I would lose him, too.


	3. Seasickness & Swords

The Warriors: Seasickness & Swords

There was something calming in the quietness of the sea as we made the crossing from Kilika Port to Besaid Island, where the Celsius would be picking up the Gullwings and us and taking everyone to Bevelle. I spent a lot of time on my own during the journey, contemplating my recent decisions and what I was going to do in my future. I had told no one what was up and they seemed uninterested but Emerald, who had taken a liking to me and was shaping up to be a good friend, was very worried.

I couldn't shake off the knowledge that it was a terrible deed, leaving everyone behind without a word. I loved my new self and felt no shame in it; being a different person was fascinating. The slightly more open, smiling Ruby was quite a contrast to the dark, quiet and often offensive Paine. It was almost like slipping into a costume and living my life on the stage.

Then again, I hadn't changed that much. I remained as faithful to my new friends as I had done to the Gullwings, and my skills with the sword remained unmatched – well, almost. My hair was silver, my eyes were red and my skin was pale as the moon. I still preferred wearing black clothes and spending some time by myself, and still hated taking on little missions like the Gullwings did, like looking for musicians and selling tickets.

On the second day of my silence Emerald approached me cautiously. I was beginning to wonder if every Al Bhed had a crazy gene as she was too much of a Rikku clone, very hyper and open. Still, at times, she was very much like Yuna, calm, caring and thoughtful. Obviously, the sword had drilled some maturity into her.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" Emerald asked me outright, leaning on the barrier.

"Nothing." I lied with a straight face, but another of Emerald's traits was that annoying one of sometimes being able to see straight through you.

"Nothing. Shoopuf dung." Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"I'm thinking." I said vaguely.

"About what?"

"Past, present and future."

"Like what?"

"All that's happened in my past, recent decisions, my present membership of the Warriors, and the new mission before us." _And Baralai, the Gullwings, my lies, whether I should go back, how things are going to go, all the details…_I added mentally, but I ignored myself.

"So what happened in your past?" Emerald asked. I could tell she would badger me about it, so I just gave her a basic and cold outline.

"My family was killed by Sin, I was sent to an orphanage where I taught myself to fight, I ran away, and the rest is confidential."

"How confidential?" Emerald gave a weak smile, knowing nothing would be told.

"Zano luhwetahdeym." _Very confidential, _I replied in Al Bhed, to give the words meaning. "But know this, Emerald: I've suffered more in nineteen years than you will in a lifetime."

"You've had it pretty hard up, then." Emerald summarised, nodding her head. Wisely, she didn't press. "By the way, did you ever meet the Gullwings?"

"I saw them once, from a distance." I lied, believably, shrugging my shoulders. "Why?"

"Diamond just wants to know." Emerald shrugged back. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

It wouldn't hurt to tell her more to get her to go away, would it? Wrong.

"I was thinking about what would have happened had my parents never died." I said. Luckily Emerald didn't see through my lie. "I probably wouldn't be a fighter. My parents were very religious, though neither was a priest or a priestess, so I might be working in the temple. They probably would have married me off to some highly thought of, rich family that was very prestigious in the temples. They were very into arranged marriages, for the sake of bonds and not at all for love. I do seem to remember that my parents were also quite popular with the priests of Kilika – I was brought up on the outskirts - so through their connections I may well be very high in the church currently, depending on whom I married. But I really don't think a religious marriage would have suited me."

"So, let's see." Emerald cocked her head mischievously with that horribly implicative 'Rikku' tone of voice. "Who would you have been married to?"

"Oh, don't start that!" I put my hands up in the air defensively, but grinned all the same, going along with it. It was weird, being joky and jovial.

"Let's see…some maester, perhaps? A warrior Monk? Or maybe she'd only just have married you off…who's in power now…Perhaps someone in the Youth League? Definitely not the Machine Faction, they're Al Bhed…One of the Leblanc Syndicate?"

"One of their goons? I don't think so. They're not very religious." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"An ex-summoner! Maybe whatshisname…Isaaru?"

I snorted. _Isaaru_?

"Or maybe Nooj…no, he's married to Leblanc…"

"Really?" I hadn't heard that. I'd been rather away from the news for a while now.

"You hadn't heard? Ruby, they've been married for six months!" Emerald seemed shocked.

I faked realisation. "Oh, I remember now. Sure."

_Eww. Poor Nooj. Still looking for death, obviously._ It was very Nooj-ish. Since he didn't plan to last long, he would make someone else happy.

Emerald was too busy in her game to notice my lie. "Or that Yaibal person…just been upgraded to summat in the Youth League…or Praetor Baralai, even!"

I forced myself to laugh out loud, although inside my heart had leapt at the mention of Baralai's name in the conversation. Marriage? To Baralai?

"Praetor Baralai! I reckon that would be a perfect match for you!" Emerald hopped up and down like Rikku. "I'll go tell the others!"

"_Fryd!_" I shouted in Al Bhed, but Emerald had already scuttled off. So I quickly ran off to find as many as I could before she got to them.

I found Onyx and Diamond near the stern, and I approached slowly. They seemed deep in conversation. As I approached Diamond heard me and looked around.

"Hey, Ruby. Why don't you join us?" Diamond smiled.

"No, it's ok. But if Emerald tells you I'm to be married to Praetor Baralai, don't believe her." I said.

"Don't worry, we're used to her doing this." Onyx laughed, and Diamond chuckled. "I can remember, four months ago she got obsessed with how I was meant to be married to him as well. She stopped doing it after a few days. Don't lift a finger about it."

"Thanks." I sighed with relief. "I thought she was just doing it to annoy me."

"I think all Al Bhed girls are a bit like that. Some of the boys, too." Diamond said. They resumed their discussion. Onyx seemed very much the second-in-command.

I walked over to the other side of the boat and leaned against the rails, watching the sun set. I wasn't much of a sailor, but I loved the sea air and the motion of the boat as it went through the water and the steady waves rocked it.

Gold, unfortunately, couldn't stand it and was leaning over the starboard edge being sick, while Silver comforted her.

One of the sailors came up to me. It was an Al Bhed man with blond hair, a couple of years older than I was. His face was handsome and familiar, but I didn't quite recognise him. One of his eyes swirled with a grey mist, betraying his blindness. "So you must be the one they say's engaged to Praetor Baralai?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Don't believe a word that little minx tells you." I scowled at him, then looked back at the sea.

He came and stood next to me. "So, you're a sailor, right?"

"I've had some experience, yes. How'd you know?"

"Just the way you're confident around deck, the way you've been helping the sailors sometimes, and so far you're the only one of the passengers I haven't seen go a pale shade of green."

I smiled at his joke. "So, what reason was it that made you join me over here? Don't you have a job to do or something?"

"Nah, just came to say hello to an old friend," he looked mischievously at me, then pulled an eyepatch over one of his green eyes, both of which had the characteristic swirled pupils of the Al Bhed.

"Gippal? Of the Machine Faction?" I furrowed my eyes innocently.

He leant in closer with a stern expression, not wanting to be heard. "Don't think I don't know it's you, Paine."

I had to give in; I find it impossible to argue with Gippal on these matters. He's far more perceptive than he seems. "Don't tell anyone." I glared back at him. "And call me Ruby."

"Fine, _'Ruby'_." Gippal's face didn't change. I could tell he was secretly fuming. "What were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that? Yuna and Rikku couldn't sleep worrying about you, and as for Nooj, Baralai and me, we weren't much better. You wouldn't believe how hard they took it. Rikku was positively heartbroken and trust me, I know! _I_ had to bear the brunt of it, whilst _someone_ was swanning off without a word of comfort! Baralai took it even harder! Funny coincidence that Emerald thinks that you should be engaged to him – he obviously felt this keener than any of us, considering the way you too were getting so close!"

I suppressed my blush. It was hard. "Cut to the point."

"I already have! What were you _thinking_?"

"I was _thinking_ that I needed to start a new life, and I needed to take every possible step to leave my last one behind. I don't do well with the media, Gippal, unlike Rikku and Yuna!" I could tell my crimson eyes were flaring as they sometimes did when I got angry, because Gippal shrunk back a little. "If I left a note I might accidentally relay clues as to where I was going. If I left as much as possible behind, I would have less that reminded me of them, and again, what I left behind and what I took might give clues to where I was going."

Silence fell while we both cooled off.

"You left your sword." Gippal pointed out. "That was a little desperate."

My father's sword. In my desperation to leave I had left behind the only thing of mine I had owned and had been close to me all my life. I had bought a new one, beautifully crafted by a descendant of my father's friend, the friend who had, coincidentally, made my father's sword. It would have been too recognisable.

"Anyhow, here it is, good as new," Gippal smirked again, handing me its newly polished blade. However, the skull was missing, removing the recognisable factor.

"I thought, if you wanted to go around Spira secretly, you might want this off." Gippal handed me the skull, still intact. "You can slide it onto the sword and these catches will keep it in place."

"Thanks, Gippal. Since when have you been this nice?"

"Never." Gippal looked towards the pinkish-orange sunset horizon, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "This is a one-off. You must excuse me, there are duties I must attend to," he said, sounding like Baralai. "Should we see each other again - which I don't doubt - I'll pretend you're just Ruby. So long, Paine."

He removed his eyepatch and walked off towards the sailors' quarters.

"Gip…"

"Hmm?"

"How did you find me?"

He grinned. "I went to school with Emerald – we've always been good friends. She told me that a ' Paine lookalike' had joined the Warriors. I had to come and investigate, so I took up a couple of days' work on the boat I knew you'd take to check it out. Maybe everyone else is blinded by forgiveness and loss of hope, but I'd recognise the way you walk anywhere, even if you've managed to through your facial features off by growing your hair. It was a lucky fluke."

I snorted. "You Al Bhed are so much more perceptive than people give you credit for. But thank you."

"If you need anyone, you know how to contact me. Don't stay in hiding forever; it'll break hearts."

And you know what? That was a genuine offer. From Gippal.

"Goodnight, Gippal." I blanked his last comment.

"'Night, ma'am."

I decided to retire to my own bed in the passenger area. The next morning we would be docking in Besaid. I'd see Yuna and Rikku again. I would certainly need my rest to cope with it.

"Please don't let them recognise me." I prayed. For all that night I prayed.


	4. Meet the Gullwings

The Warriors: Meet the Gullwings

The ship docked in Besaid without any trouble. We slowly piled off with the other passengers, but as I left, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see Gippal grinning at me.

"I'll give Rikku your regards."

"Do that, and I'll remove your ability to father children."

"Don't stay away too long."

"Don't ever take your eye patch off again."

He snorted, shook his head, and returned to the boat. I knew my evasive responses secretly hurt him, but he would know that his remarks were secretly being taken in and mulled over.

I joined the others and surveyed the scene. My heart did a funny cross between a skid, a jolt and a sprint; from where I was standing, I could see Yuna, Rikku and Calli with two men, who looked like twins. This was the closest I'd been to them in a year and I seriously did _not_ want to be standing where I was. The moment they'd see me, they would make the connection.

"That's them." I nudged Emerald and pointed.

Emerald's eyes widened with anticipation and excitement. "Oh yeah, I recognise Lady Yuna! So that must be Lady Rikku." She turned to me, a proud smile on her face. "You know, I went to school with Gippal! I get all the gossip on their relationship. Of course, I never say anything to the press…" she grinned at me, cheekily, "…but I know things are going well!"

I snorted, and changed the subject. Talking about things I knew too much about wasn't going to do any good. "I suppose that's Calli, and those two are Kewa and Ditsup." I added.

"What makes you say that?"

"Calli is a girl's name, white Kewa and Ditsup are boy's names, and of the three new people there's only one girl."

"Oh. Right." Yeah, _Rikku_.

"Come on, let's go meet the Gullwings!" Diamond waved us over to follow her onto the beach. We followed her down the coastline, and while the others looked around at the scenery, I kept my eyes focused on the new Gullwings.

The boys were giving each other a swordfight, but neither looked like they knew much about the sword. Not a wise decision on Yuna and Rikku's part – of course, they'd take in _any_ wayward wanderer. They could at least have found _better_ replacements for me. It made me feel surprisingly let down, though I'd let _them_ down.

Calli was mounted on a chocobo - perhaps her main dressphere was trainer?

"I bet each of us could beat those twins single-handedly." Onyx said, smacking her fist into her open palm.

"Come now, Onyx, let's make friends and then you can thrash them in a duel." Diamond flashed an evil grin at us all. We shared a secret moment of disapproval and glee; we all seemed to share a passion for the look in a man's eye when a _girl_ beat him.

Diamond approached Yuna. "High Summoner Yuna?" Diamond asked, bowing down.

"That's me." Yuna smiled at her. I could see there were large grey patches under her eyes, like Rikku's. Perhaps Gippal was right, they hadn't been able to sleep at all. An uncomfortable jolt played my heartstrings. "You must be Diamond."

"Of course. It's an honour to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet _you_." Yuna bowed in return. "This is Rikku and Calli, and the twins are Kewa and Ditsup, though I still can't tell which is which."

"Kewa," "Ditsup," the twins introduced themselves, holding out their hands.

"Don't be stupid, _that's _Kewa and _that's_ Ditsup." Rikku glared at the boys, then held out her hand to Diamond. Calli did the same, and Diamond greeted them all in turn.

"This is Onyx, my second-in-command, and possibly the strongest warrior next to me, although she has recently started to doubt that for some reason." Diamond introduced Onyx, gesturing towards the right Warrior. Onyx bowed low to Rikku and Yuna, shook Calli's hand but nodded stiffly to the twins.

"This is Gold and Silver, the two twins who have been, alongside me, in the Warriors for the longest."

Gold and Silver shook hands with the boys, flashing their grins at exactly the same moment. Although the boys were twins also, this unnatural connection of twins, seemingly stronger than the boys, seemed to unnerve them.

"This is Emerald, our little Al Bhed and the youngest in our team. Very crafty, but more skilled with the sword than anything else."

"It's an honour to meet you, Lady Yuna," Emerald shook hands with Yuna enthusiastically. "Yht acbaleymmo du saad oui, Bnehlacc Rikku." _And especially to meet you, Princess Rikku, _Emerald curtseyed to Rikku.

"Bmaycy, drana'c hu haat du lindcao." _Please, there's no need to curtsey, _Rikku replied, smiling.

"And this is our latest addition, Ruby." Diamond smiled at me, pointing me out. "We have high hopes for her."

I bowed low, then got up and smiled at them. "It's a pleasure to meet the Gullwings, especially High Summoner Yuna and Princess Rikku."

I was impressed with how my voice held. Yuna and Rikku had never seen me bow much, but I dipped my head more than usual and brought my elbows up a little bit more to change it from Paine's.

"Yunie, do you see it?" Rikku leaned over to Yuna and whispered. I groaned inwardly; it had begun.

"I _do!_" Yuna replied. "It's kind of uncanny, isn't it?"

"Lady Yuna?" I enquired, keeping up my act.

"Sorry, it's just you look an awful lot like Paine." Yuna looked at me with astonishment.

"Yes, I have been told that a few times in my travels the past year." I rolled my eyes, uttering a small, false laugh. "People even think I _am_ Paine – the amount of times someone who knew Paine has tried to convince me to 'come home'! It doesn't help, me being a warrior and all. Hopefully joining the Warriors will clear any doubts that I am not Paine."

"Did you ever think you might be related?" Rikku asked.

"I never thought to look." I answered. "There wouldn't be much evidence left, anyway. My family was..." I sighed and looked down. "…was killed by Sin. I've never quite got over it, and it would be too painful to look. But then we may be related. I had given up hope of family long ago."

It was the truth; not the whole truth, a half-truth, an inch of truth; but truth enough to spare me most of my guilt.

Yuna and Rikku knew me so much better than everyone else, yet it was so much...easier...to fool them than I had expected. I guess I know them too well. Neither can see through a lie, or at least, the right kind of lie.

"I'm sorry." Yuna gave me a sad look and put her hand on my shoulder. I didn't meet her eyes, as my own would have given me away.

"So, when will your airship be here?" Diamond asked, eventually breaking the silence that followed.

"Brother said he'd be here now." Rikku took a glance at the sky. "I wonder what's taking him?"

"Brother, this is Yuna. What's taking so long?" Yuna spoke into the tiny microphone concealed on her shoulder.

An angry voice shouted something in the background. "Ed'c ouin tido yc Al Bhed!"

"Uhh…" Rikku looked awkwardly at the surrounding crowd, knowing that quite a few would be able to speak Al Bhed.

"Drah E tuh'd fyhd du pa yh Al Bhed!" Brother's voice argued back.

Rikku winced.

"Brother! Tuh'd oui ajan cyo dryd ykyeh!"

"Pops! Brother! Don't make me come on up there!" Rikku yelled into her comm.

"Rikku! I almost forgot! Gimme ten seconds!" Brother shouted. "I am coming!"

"Finally! Over and out." Rikku said.

Yuna, meanwhile, was counting; "Five, Four, Three..."

The Celsius appeared on the horizon, swooping down on them at full throttle.

"Two..."

The brakes made screeching noises as Brother really put something into the brakes.

"One..._zero_."

The Celsius stopped at beach on the count of zero.

"Sweet." Emerald nodded her head as if in a trance.

"Totally." Rikku replied.

"Banvald desehk!" Yuna grinned at her comm. I was impressed; she really had been working at it.

"Really? _Ysywehk! Banvald!_ Famm tuha! Fa crymm pa eh cohl cuuh, so tayn!"

"Come on guys, get on board. Brother might need to do some tinkling with the engine after that _tecycdan_ of a landing, but we'll be in Bevelle in no time!" Yuna called, hurrying towards the Celsius.

_Great_, I thought. I knew the full speed of the Celsius, but I had been hoping it would possibly have taken a bang or something that made it slower. Hopefully that huge crash would have done _something_.

I paused for a moment, gazing out to the sea. If I went on this mission, I was taking the big risk of being discovered by the Gullwings, Nooj, and more importantly, Baralai. My old Crimson Squad friends knew me even better than the Gullwings, they'd be harder to fool. Even back then I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep myself secret. I knew too much about the Gullwings, about the Crimson Squad, about everything! I looked too much like my former self and sounded too much like her. I might let something slip. Danger waited around every corner. My mind instantly flew to any last-minute changes I could make to my mannerisms, my tone of voice, my facial expressions, to make me less recognisable.

Then Emerald's cry cut through my silence. "Ruby! Hurry up!"

My head instinctively jolted round to look at her. She was smiling, beckoning for me to come. So eager. So excited. So naive.

I knew that there was no turning back and I would have to deal with the mess I'd got myself into. I picked up my luggage and walked towards the Celsius, the ship that had borne the Gullwings and I around Spira, had borne me back to my Crimson Squad friends and had taken us to Vegnagun.

"Hey, Ruby, what's up?" she asked as I stepped into the Celsius.

"Nothing that concerns you." I gave her a half-hearted, small, unconvincing smile then strode off towards Onyx, who was handling the luggage. I left my bags with her, and as I made to walk away, I stopped. "Onyx…" I said thoughtfully, "…have you ever heard of the Assassins? Because I most certainly haven't."

Diamond was clever and strategic, but Onyx had a great wisdom and sense of experience about her. I'd heard that she'd lived a much rougher life than the other Warriors, so this was only natural. "Yes, I have, but not much. _Nobody_ knows much. They're said to be a group of assassins who train in black magic. When they are fully trained, they're virtually unstoppable, and the test for an Assassin to become an official Assassin is for him or her to assassinate someone in authority. They're led by someone called...Anne-something...Ansi? No, Anansi. Anansi. That's it. Anansi."

It is strange how sometimes you immediately know the character of a person when being told their name, and this was no exception.

Anansi. That word cut through me like a steel-cold knife, slicing almost immediate dread into me. It rang a weird bell in my head, but not one, particularly, of recognition; one of fear. Somehow I knew this Anansi was not a man who ruled fairly, but who ruled brutally, with violence, threats and death. A dictator. And somehow, I knew, a formidable enemy. I'm sure Onyx saw me shiver.

"There are different rumours about him. Some say he's an unsent with strange powers. Some say he's a fair man who only sends people to kill on contract. But the majority says he's a cold killer. He kills for fun and takes joy in torturing people. He dictates over his people like a demon. Some say he's possessed by a demon. Some say he _is_ a demon."

"I'll stick with the dictator theory, personally." I said.

"You and I alike," Onyx smiled, "but the twins like the idea of him as a fair ruler, and Diamond holds firm with the unsent theory. Maybe an unsent dictator?"

"That's a possibility." I agreed. "But I don't like the sound of him. It's strange; when I heard his name I almost immediately knew he was a, let's say, bad person. Between you and me," I balanced my words carefully, not wanting to sound like I was exaggerating the whole thing. "I think we'll get more trouble than we expect from him."

"Again, you and I alike." Onyx nodded.

She seemed to approve of me, so I decided to put some things to rest. "Onyx, I'm sorry about the insults in Kilika Woods. I'm afraid I didn't make a very good impression." I apologised.

"Forgive and forget, as the saying goes, Ruby. You're one of us and we can't afford to disagree."

We were interrupted.

"WOO-HOO!" a delighted cheer suddenly came from the engine room followed by the sounds of running footsteps, the lift's strange humming noise, and more pounding feet.

"That sounded like Lady Rikku." Emerald, who had jumped with surprise at the shout, remarked.

Moments later Brother's voice resounded round the ship in a mocking posh voice, "_Rammu_, Warriors and Gullwings! I'm your driver, Brother, and we will be docking at Bevelle in less than five minutes. Stand by for take-off. Please remember that this ship is a non-smoking area, the engine room is off-limits to all non-Gullwings, and that our resident Hypello, Barkeep, will be happy to serve you drinks in the bar. Fell free to ex-"

"_Crid ib yht kad uh fedr ed!_" Rikku's voice blared around the ship.

"_Ymhekrd, ymhekrd_…" Brother returned to his usual thick accent and the speakers turned off.

I felt the Celsius touch off the ground and smoothly rise up into the air, through the clouds. "Well, going on the advice of Lady Rikku, I should say we'll be there soon." I told Onyx and Emerald. "I'll be up on the deck."

I walked towards the lift and pressed the 'deck' button. I heard the doors close behind me and the familiar whirring hum as the lift took me up to the deck. It arrived and I walked out into the wind. I stood near the gull and stood in the full force of the wind, my long hair and robes blowing back in the wind. I put my hand on my sword and smiled, remembering how much I used to, and still did, love it up there.

Suddenly, I heard a 'click' noise and looked to my left. Gold had sneaked up on me. She was holding a sphere recorder and had obviously just taken a picture with it. "Wanna see it?" she asked me. I nodded, and she handed me the fresh print.

"Wow, Gold, you're a brilliant photographer. You made even me look good." I smiled. You had to admit I looked pretty impressive, even from my pessimistic point of view. The clouds were rushing by, with my robes and long, silvery hair floating out behind me. My red eyes had even caught the sun, giving my whole appearance a strange, unearthly look that, I have to say, I liked.

"Lemme see!" Silver, also sneaking up on me, leaned over my shoulder and snatched the photo. "Wow, this has to be your best one yet!" Silver congratulated her twin.

"It's a strange little tradition we have." Diamond emerged from the lift with Onyx and Emerald and walked towards us. "Everyone who joins has to have their photograph taken. Before we had my mother do it, but then Gold discovered her talents and we got Gold to do it instead. Her other hobby, besides duelling, is photography, so she was much better and more experienced."

"Let's see." Onyx held out her hand for the photo. It was passed around and everyone approved greatly.

"Hey, d'you reckon we an see Bevelle yet?" Emerald asked, looking towards the edge. She sprinted towards the edge. "Look! We're right above it!"

We all went to the edge and looked down. Sure enough, there were the houses, the edge of Macalania and in all its splendour, the temple. The home of New Yevon.

Baralai.

"C'mon, let's go!" Emerald said. "We're gonna get to meet the Praetor!"

She seemed surprisingly excited for someone whose people had been persecuted by Yevon. Everyone sprinted after her, just as interested. For a moment I lingered, gazing at the temple, then I too, left the deck.


	5. The Cloisters

The Warriors: The Cloisters

Praetor Baralai was a changed man.

The last year had not been an easy one. When the Eternal Calm had been restored once more and Vegnagun had been destroyed, the time had come for celebration. _But_…not for Baralai. He felt guilt that he had not been able to fight off Shuyin. He felt shame that he had been involved in the plot to destroy Spira. The long days of hard work helped to put it out of his mind, but at night, when he was alone, his feelings came back ten fold and haunted him. All he wanted was rest, to recover.

Then two weeks later, Paine ran away.

Guilt, shame and fatigue were now joined by shock, pain and loss. How could this have happened? Why did she run away? He had so many questions left unanswered, besides the fact that he felt he had lost a good friend. And he had so many things he hadn't told her…

There were large shadows under his weary eyes as he walked out of the temple doors into the sunshine. Everyone was worried about him, especially the elders. They had been doing all they could to help him through this difficult time, even posted three or four personal assistants, but nothing, Baralai knew, could help him, except Paine's return.

He heard a roaring and looked up. He saw the Celsius begin to touch down at the entrance to Bevelle. He signalled the Captain of the guard to take some soldiers to escort the visitors to him. The Captain made the Prayer sign, bowed and then motioned to five soldiers to follow.

He sighed. For the first time it wasn't carrying Paine.

"Are you sure you have the strength to greet them, Praetor?" asked a concerned elderly man.

Baralai smiled at the wizened old man. "They're guests, Maechen. Whether or not I have the strength, for the sake of politeness I must. Besides, if there's any hope in the world, they bring it."

"It was terrible, the day Lady Paine ran away." Maechen mused gravely. "I think all of Spira shared in your sorrow."

Baralai shook his head, frowning. "Had it been I, or Lady Yuna, possibly even Lady Rikku, Spira would have grieved. But the nation didn't know Paine all that well. Some would have grieved. Two weeks isn't enough to get a nation to love you."

" 'Twas enough for you."

Baralai chuckled. "It was enough for New Yevon."

"Yes, I agree. You can't exactly say the Youth League were that fond of you."

Baralai laughed, though he was sure Maechan wasn't trying to be funny.

"And I must say, it is a relief to see you smiling and laughing again. And especially to see someone laughing because of me. All they do nowadays is fall asleep…"

At this Baralai laughed out loud, breaking into a delighted smile. It would be short-lived, but he tried to enjoy rare moments of joviality. "Maechen, if everyone took you slightly more seriously, a lot of people would laugh."

At that moment, the Captain of the Guard reappeared. He led the familiar faces of Yuna and Rikku and an unfamiliar gathering of other Gullwings and Warriors down the road towards him. None of them were the important face he needed to see. When they reached him, he and his soldiers saluted and stepped away.

Paine's POV

"Oh, Baralai, you look terrible!" Yuna looked worried as she strode towards him. "Are you still having those sleeping problems? Oh, honestly, Baralai, there's nothing to worry about."

"It's not just that, Lady Yuna." Baralai smiled and shook his head. "Taking up my role as Praetor again wasn't easy. The work is challenging after such a long break…but don't worry, I'll be fine."

He didn't look like he would be. His eyes were tired with bags of shadow clinging underneath, his posture sagged slightly under the burden of tiredness and his smiled was half-hearted. I felt terrible. Was this the harm I had inflicted upon Baralai by running away?

"But come, you must introduce your friends." Baralai looked at us. He was as adept at changing the subject as I was. "I'm quite sure I'd like to meet them and, well, if they don't want to meet me it's tough luck on them."

A light grin spread onto everyone's features, mixed with relief; he was happy enough to joke.

"Oh yes." Rikku hopped towards the twins. "This is Kewa and Ditsup. You'll find out which one's which." Rikku then hopped to Calli. "This is Calli. We met her on the Mi'hen Highroad on Yunie's pilgrimage and we met her again a while ago. She turned out to be brilliant at fighting on a chocobo so we let her join."

"And this is Diamond, leader of the Warriors." Yuna said, motioning towards Diamond. Diamond made the Prayer sign and bowed.

"It is an honour to meet the Praetor in person." Diamond said. I realised she was very good at her formalities.

"I hope we can be good friends." Baralai replied and bowed back. "You, and your companions."

"Diamond's probably the best swordswoman in Spira." Rikku hopped on one leg in a hyper way.

"Oh really?" Baralai smiled. "I look forward to testing that theory."

Diamond smiled as she shook her head and started introducing us. "This is my second-in-command, Onyx, a great swordswoman who is always looking for a challenge."

"Exactly how good are you, Onyx?"

"I've only ever been beaten by two people, including Diamond." Onyx smiled, proudly. I guessed that although she was very kind and understanding, she thought very highly of herself.

"Then I hope we can have some good duels sometime, Onyx. You'll find I'm more challenging than you think with a double-edged rod."

"I look forward to it." Onyx smiled sweetly. I felt jealousy coursing through me.

"This is Gold and Silver, our set of twins. If you ever see them fighting, which I hope you get a chance to, you'll see their way is quite unique."

"It's the bond of two twins, Diamond." Gold smiled as she bowed to Baralai.

"We can read each other's minds." Silver bowed at the same time as Gold, and made exactly the same movements at exactly the same time, with exactly the same facial expressions.

"I…I can see." Baralai looked puzzled by their display of synchronisation.

"This is our little Al Bhed, Emerald. She's extremely quick."

"Not as fast as you, Diamond." Emerald bowed low like the others, but hers was more energetic.

"Then I hope I can see exactly how quick you are. If you're quick enough, I might need check which one of us is faster."

Emerald giggled.

"Trust us, he's _fast_." Rikku replied.

I couldn't look away, as I was about to be introduced, but I looked at the floor. She was referencing _that_ battle…

"And this is our latest addition, Ruby. She's the only other person to have beaten Onyx in combat and she seems to have a great mind for strategy and technique as well as power. I look forward to seeing how she progresses as one of us."

I bowed low, trying to think of something to say. "I…er…" I stammered, then I noticed Baralai bending down as well. I straightened up and noticed him looking directly into my eyes.

"Wow. You're only the second person I've met with silver hair and red eyes." he nodded his head curiously.

"And if you're thinking she's related to Paine, that's a no-no." Rikku shook her head. "She's innocent, I'm afraid."

I rolled my eyes. Typical Rikku. Baralai smiled, kindly. "Sick of people mistaking you for someone else, right?"

I nodded, relieved. "Right. I - I wish p-people would just greet me like…like a normal person." I stammered my way through the sentence. It was all I could do not to laugh the stress away. As soon as I got to my room, I'd probably howl like a maniac.

But I could see Baralai wasn't convinced. I sighed.

"So I guess you'll be wanting too have a look around?" Baralai asked. "You can give the chocobo to the Captain of the Guard. He'll take him to our chocobo stables out back. We just built them." He motioned for us to follow and we walked into the temple. Calli gave her chocobo a last stroke before handing it over to the Captain.

Oh, it would take me too long to talk about everything that's happened to me here…battling Bahamut…the cloisters…the adventure with the Leblanc syndicate…battling Baralai…

I shook the thoughts out of my head. But Emerald, the girl who sees all, could see something was wrong. "Ruby?" she asked.

I knew she was asking me what was wrong. I smiled guiltily. "Memories." was my simple answer as I walked on.

The group moved through a corridor and up a lift, up some stairs. As we talked, Baralai was talking in hushed whispers with Diamond.

"They're discussing how they're going to find Paine." Gold explained.

"You missed our meeting about it." Emerald grinned. "We figure she's run away because there's something she's really scared of. Warriors like Paine don't run away because of little fears. They run away because of big ones."

They really were clever, these girls.

"But we don't know where she's gone. She won't be near Macalania, she'll be avoiding that. She'll be lurking in places we won't suspect."

_I bet even you wouldn't consider she'd be hiding right under your nose. _I thought. _Not now, not now that she's nearly convinced you she's Ruby._

"And since you look exactly like her, we need you to try and trace your family. We think there's a big chance you're related."

_Oh._ "Ok…" I replied, uncertainly. I looked away, pretending to inspect the intricate religious designs on the walls.

Silver was just behind us, adjusting a sphere camera. "I hope we can get some good pictures here. I need to practice."

Gold laughed. "Face it, _Chanta_, you'll never be as good as me."

Silver, Emerald and I raised our eyebrows.

"Sorry." Gold said. "I'm still getting used to calling you Silver."

"That's all right, _Maali_," Silver smiled mischievously.

"Ooh! I used to be called _Seclreaw_!" Emerald giggled, bouncing up and down and skipping steps as we climbed the stairs. "But everyone called me _Roo_!"

"_Inasrief_." Onyx said. "After my mother. _Inasrief Braldor_."

"And you, Ruby?" Emerald asked.

I had been expecting the question, but still had no answer. "I…er…"

"You don't remember?" Emerald snorted.

"It changed a lot." I said. I was becoming better at my acting day by day.

"You must have had a favourite?" Emerald waved her arms about excitedly.

Diamond was looking at me with understanding. "Come on, girls, leave her alone." she said, and carried on up the stairs.

"And what was your name?" Emerald started, but Diamond hushed her.

"Enough."

"She never tells us." Emerald muttered.

We all came to a halt at a corridor.

"My office is on the floor directly above and the two corridors are identical." Baralai said. "This corridor is where your rooms will be for as long as you stay here. This one here sleeps three. I was wondering if the three Gullwings girls would like it."

_The three Gullwings girls…not including Paine._

Calli ventured in first. She then stopped and gasped. "Wow!" she said. "Cool beds…private bathroom…three cupboards and bedside tables…look at this, guys!"

_It would seem like a luxury to any weary traveller._ Calli was only young.

Everyone except Baralai, Diamond, Onyx and I ventured in and admired the room.

"Come on out." Baralai called. "The rest are like this as well."

At this point we heard a loud panting noise behind us. We looked around to see Brother, carrying at least six suitcases, collapsed in the corridor.

Baralai and I went to help. We both took two off Brother, and he scrambled to his feet. "Dryhg oui." _Thank you, _he said.

"Tuh'd sahdeuh ed." _Don't mention it, _I said. The two suitcases I had taken had the names 'Diamond' and 'Rikku' sewed onto them, so I left Rikku's in her room and gave Diamond hers.

Buddy struggled up the stairs next, so I took two more off him. I handed Gold and Silver theirs.

Then the blond I recognised as Tidus came up and I saw no need to help as he wasn't struggling. He carried Rikku's other suitcase and Yuna's two. Yuna smiled at him and invited him in. After a quick introduction with Baralai, he went into visit the girls.

By now we all had been given our separate suitcases and we followed Baralai down the corridor. Kewa and Ditsup were given a room next, then Gold and Silver. We bypassed the next one, which was Baralai's, then the next, which was one of the archive rooms we would be seeking knowledge about the Assassins on.

We went back to the beginning of the corridor and started on the other side of the room. Onyx was first, opposite Yuna, Rikku and Calli. Emerald was opposite the male twins, while Diamond was opposite the female twins.

"And I guess that leaves me." I said. _Opposite Baralai,_ I added mentally.

"Yep." Baralai smiled. "This one's yours."

I walked into my room. It was just like Yuna's, but the rooms on this side had a balcony and windows that looked out towards the sea. It was like staying in a five-star mansion-like hotel.

"Wow." I said, looking around. I turned to face Baralai. "I wish I stayed somewhere like this every day."

He laughed. He looked so handsome when he laughed. "I'll just go make sure the others are settling in fine."

He walked out of the doorway but I quickly called him back in again.

"Something wrong?"

"Look, I'm no good at this personal stuff, but…I can stay away, if you like."

"What?"

"If…if it's painful to look at me…" I wasn't entirely sure what I was going on about. I guess I was just looking for an excuse to hide away. "The others told me…that you suffered badly when…when she left."

_Aha. Confident Paine, stuttering Ruby. What a change._

Baralai smiled, touched by my thoughfulness. "She definitely left a hole…but I wouldn't want that to get in the way of our mission. In a way, your presence will ease the pain. Give me hope she's still alive, somewhere."

"Paine's a tough nut. She can take care of herself. Uh…not that I'd know…" Too close!

"Yeah, I know. You warriors all understand each other. I'll leave you to unpack. Thanks for the offer, though."

"No problem."

He left the room.

_Yevon, that was close!_ I sighed. My heart was doing 600 miles a minute!

I began to unpack. I'm never quite sure how it happened, but first I began to hum a song to myself. Then I began to sing, softly.

_"Land of fen and land of river, land that gave us birth and blessing, land that calls us ever homewards; we will go home across the mountains."_

It was an old folk song, one I used to sing as a child. I began to sing louder and louder on the chorus.

_"We will go home, we will go home, we will go home across the mountains. We will go home singing our song, we will go home across the mountains."_

I stopped singing, but I could hear a distant voice from the other side of the corridor begin to sing.

_"Land of glen and land of forest, land that lets us free to fly…"_

And I found myself singing along.

"…land that we will see again, we will go home across the mountains."

I went outside to see Yuna, Rikku and Calli standing at their door. We all sang together, though I knew it had been Yuna singing before.

_"We will go home, we will go home…"_

Gold and Silver looked out, and joined us…

"…we will go home across the mountains."

…Now Kewa and Ditsup…

"We will go home singing our song…"

…Now Onyx, Emerald, and even Diamond…

"…we will go home across the mountains. We will go home, we will go home, we will go home across the mountains. We will go home singing our song-"

_"We will go home across the mountains."_

Another voice joined ours on the last line, and we all looked around to see Baralai poking his head out of his room. "Oops, am I too late?"

Everyone laughed and beckoned for him to join in. I started singing again, Yuna improvising a harmony…

_"Land of field and land of child, land that keeps us safe from evil…"_

…Yuna beckoned for Baralai to join in instead of her. I was singing with Baralai…

_"Land that stays within our hearts, we have come home across the mountains…"_

…Then everyone joined in. _Wow, Baralai has a beautiful voice, _I thought.

"We have come home, we have come home, we have come home across the mountains. We have come home singing our song, We have come home across the mountains…"

I sang solo the last lines.

"We have come home for eternity, we have come home across the mountains…"

Everyone cheered and patted each other on the shoulders. _I_ even found myself laughing, seeing the funny side of things.

"I wonder who started that little chain?" Baralai smiled at me. He seemed alive again, as if singing and laughing had somehow revived his spirit. And he had such lovely chocolate eyes…

I shrugged. "I like my folk songs."

**[Half an hour later]**

_Knock, knock._

"Who is it?"

"Isabelle."

"Isabelle who?" I smiled. I knew it was Emerald.

"Isabelle necessary on a bicycle!" Emerald burst into the room, clapped her hands, then spread them out, one hand towards me, like they do in pantos.

"All right, Drama Queen." I laughed, although the joke wasn't at all funny. "What's up?"

"The Praetor and the Gullwings are taking us down somewhere. Something called the Cloisters."

I raised my eyebrows without meaning to. _The Cloisters? _I hid my astonishment with the words, "I've heard of them. Apparently they're meant to get tougher as you get lower. One hundred floors and the lowest are extremely hard. You could die in there."

"I don't believe you."

"That's what they say."

"Anyway, get your things." Emerald looked slightly put off as she hopped out of the room nervously.

Yuna surely wouldn't risk taking us down to the Cloisters? She knew how dangerous they were, and she didn't know how tough we were…Well, I wasn't worried, I knew we were all tough enough. But Yuna didn't. She wouldn't dare, would she?

I thought, what was going on here? Exactly what had happened to the Gullwings in my absence? Yuna making rash decisions? Hiring twins who obviously couldn't fight? Taking people who she didn't know were good fighters down into the Cloisters? What was going on? Was it the fact that I had left? Had I thrown them off-balance?

Was it _all_ my fault?

**[Cloister 0]**

Emerald hid behind my back. "I don't like it," she whimpered. "It reminds me of…"

"The Farplane? So totally." Rikku was cowering as well.

"How tough does it get down here?" Diamond asked, very business-like.

"Very tough. But we'll leave when it gets too strong. It's great for training, so we thought we'd bring you here." Yuna replied. She turned around to look at Baralai. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

Baralai nodded slowly. Again, he seemed tired and weak, but he straightened his back and held his head up high. "I'm sure."

He was always a secretly tough cookie.

I took my sword out and flicked it around a bit. "I'm sure us Warriors are all right, but two particular twins over there are pissing themselves."

Everyone looked over to Kewa and Ditsup. They were trembling near the exit. "Come on, it'll do you good!" Rikku shouted, heading off. We all followed. Kewa and Ditsup stayed a good distance behind.

"Fine. They can guard the rear." Yuna muttered almost angrily as she headed the group. She didn't seem happy about their choice of recruits.

"Anyone need a warm-up?" Calli asked from on top of her chocobo. There were couple of nods.

Baralai started to spin his rod. It spun faster and faster and wider and wider; his fighting style hadn't changed, I could see it in the way he handled his weapon. Diamond was the first to dodge, hitting the ground so fast we almost couldn't see her. Gold and Silver clattered to the ground ungracefully, as their outfits were heavy plate-metal suits of armour and didn't help their speed, but were great for heavy-power and heavy-defense. Showing off, Rikku jumped up and under, just as the blade swung at her but missing by an inch. Emerald did it just as fast, nearly a blur. Calli's chocobo jumped right out of range, using his wings to propel him. Kewa and Ditsup ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. The spinning blades cut off a small edge of Yuna's skirt, but she dived safe and clear. Onyx dived underneath, then held her sword up and the blade connected with the rod with a piercing _clang_. It rebounded back into its normal shape.

"Guess we're all ready." Baralai said, withdrawing his rod. He looked up and grinned, seeing where I was, but not revealing my position. "Let's go."

Where was I? I had flipped away, higher and higher, until I had been able to dig my sword into the ceiling. Leaning on it, I managed to push my feet onto the roof, hanging upside-down, watching the whole scenario from above, being one of the first to dodge. I don't think anyone noticed.

"W-where's Ruby?" Emerald said shakily, missing her hide-behind girl.

"Hmm?" Diamond looked around. "Ruby? _Ruby?_"

"Look, I'm a bat!" I called. It was easy to adopt an innocent sense of humour after hanging around with Rikku and Emerald. I yanked my sword out of the roof and fell heavily, nearly on my back, but I twisted to land on my hands and knees. My sword fell a few feet away.

"Jeez, how'd you get up there?" Emerald asked, gazing at the hole left by my sword.

"I guess I'm a frog, too."

**[Three hours later, floor 36]**

"For Yevon's sake, Lady Yuna, why the Farplane did you bring us down here?

I knelt by Emerald's nearly unconscious body. Kewa's unconscious self lay next to me, where I had dumped him after carrying him nearly the whole way. Onyx was carrying Ditsup, and Baralai was leaning heavily on his rod, totally exhausted but a fighter through and through. Diamond was glaring angrily at Yuna, who was helping Calli up after Calli fell from her chocobo.

"You should have known better! We should have left ages ago!" Diamond shouted, trying to get some sense into Yuna.

"Please, Yunie, let's go!" Rikku was close to tears as she begged.

"Just one more floor…" Yuna mumbled.

"No!" Baralai was the one to glare at Yuna this time. "Lady Yuna, there is no time. We need to get the twins and the Al Bhed to a healer right away."

"I can do White Magic!" Yuna replied hotly.

"And so can I! But what do you plan to do, heal them every five minutes because they're not strong enough to stay alive in here?" Baralai was so seldom angry, it was even more frightening to see him worked up. His face was pulled into a frown, his eyes snake-like slits.

"Lady Yuna, this is suicide!" I insisted, turning my head angrily at her. "Or was that some bizarre part of your plan?"

Perhaps it was the shock of meeting Paine's angry eyes again, or perhaps I had touched a nerve. But her eyes betrayed her; she hadn't realised it, but her mind had subconsciously seen this as a way out. Suicide would spare her, the way an escape had spared Paine. A fall of air, not dissimilar to a sob, left my mouth as I turned back to Emerald. I hadn't realised she was coping so poorly with her fame.

Yuna fell back underneath our anger. "All right." she murmured, giving Calli a boost onto her chocobo.

Silver and Gold took Kewa from me while I picked Emerald up. "Maybe you should try and revive them, so we won't have to carry them all the way. If some of us have to carry them any longer _while_ fighting, we'll be in the healer's ourselves." I suggested.

Yuna spherechanged to White Mage. The Warriors were all used to her doing this now, so no one flinched. She quickly restored Kewa, Ditsup and Emerald. All were shaky and they were allowed first on to the glyph.

As Calli and her chocobo went through, I began to feel a faint rumbling. No one else could feel it, as they were all waiting to get on the glyph. I looked back.

A large, mysterious shadow moved out of sight. Then the rumbling stopped.

Slowly, I stepped out of my place in line. Diamond called after me, but I ignored her. I sidled along the wall to where the shadow disappeared.

Another two shadows, smaller this time, leapt across the wall. I drew my sword. Fiends were circling and only I knew it.

"Everyone, get on the glyph as quick as possible." I ordered, taking up a fighting stance. "We've got company."

Even as I spoke, the large shadow moved again, then the shadow of a flying beast flew across, then the two smaller ones, then the big one again.

Diamond and Baralai spotted them, too, and joined me. I hissed at Baralai that he was too tired, but he ignored me. Yuna was the next to get on the glyph, Rikku, Gold, Silver and Onyx waiting behind her, in that order from front to back.

"Those look like Canis Majors." Diamond said, pointing out the two scampering shapes. "That's a Tentacles - you can see its shadow - and that's probably a Humbaba."

"Great. Fiend fest." I said, adjusting my grip on my sword. Then suddenly, the Tentacles flew at me, tentacles outstretched. I hacked at it easily, at least cutting its HP by half. Diamond and Baralai finished it off. The Canis Majors attacked at the same time. Diamond and I took them on while Baralai recovered. He certainly wasn't his old self.

That left the Humbaba.

It plunged first at Diamond, who half-stepped, half-leaped out of the way. "Oversoul!" she shouted as she sidestepped. "I can see the pyreflies!"

Onyx, who was now the last one left to get on the glyph, hesitated. "Go!" I shouted. "We'll deal with this!"

Onyx lingered a moment more, then stepped on the glyph. The minute she had disappeared, the Humbaba knocked Diamond onto it. Diamond disappeared.

"You next, Baralai." I said, taking a swipe at the Humbaba's leg to distract it. It roared in pain, then headed for me.

"What about you?" he asked, swiping the other leg.

"What about yourself, _Praetor!_" I replied, hacking at the Humbaba's arm.

Baralai stared at me for a split-second, and I understood. That had been too Paine-ish. I should have thought about that statement.

Still, Baralai had no choice in the matter. In its fury the Humbaba knocked him onto the glyph as well.

I watched him disappear, and that was my fatal mistake. The Humbaba charged at me and used Uppercut. Its horns slashed my side as it threw me up in the air. I came down near to the glyph with a sickening crash. I knew immediately I had twisted my ankle. Thankfully, no broken bones.

I tried to roll onto the glyph, but the Humbaba swiped at me and knocked me away again. As its hand swung towards me again, I just managed to point my sword at it. The blade went straight through, and the Humbaba jerked his hand away. I scrambled to my feet and dived at the glyph.

I tumbled into the temple, leaking blood all over the floor. All I was aware of was hands steadying me, then picking me up as my world was plunged into darkness.


	6. Assassin Mother

The Warriors: Assassin Mother

"An oversoul Humbaba? What were you thinking, leaving her alone?"

"Diamond, I didn't mean to. The Humbaba knocked me onto the glyph. And if you _remember_, I tried to go back but Onyx stopped me. If she hadn't, I would probably be lying on a bed next to Ruby in a worse state!"

I could hear raised voices. _Diamond…Baralai…_

"You two! Stop arguing! She's not going to die and, believe it or not, she's not serious and will be up and fighting less than a day after she wakes up!"

_Yuna…_

"I can't help it! Diamond keeps nagging me!"

Baralai…

"What? I don't nag!"

"Do."

_Diamond…Baralai…_

"Stop…acting like…children…" I mumbled, sleepily. I knew why I was lying on a bed. There had been a fight with an oversoul Humbaba, and I had passed out.

"Ruby!" The familiar voice of Emerald shouted. I opened my eyes to see her skid to a stop by my bed.

"Hey, _Roo_." I smiled slightly.

"She remembers!" Emerald cried, delightedly. "That's a good sign, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, a very good sign." Yuna agreed. I noticed that she and the Gullwings were standing slightly away from the Warriors, on the other side of the bed. They seemed a little standoffish and I didn't like it.

"Hey, Ruby." Onyx said. "We had a root around the archives while you were asleep. Oh, and you've been unconscious for about two days, but nothing's serious. We didn't find much, only an old legend, a couple of photos and a record of Assassin encounters in the past."

"Have you got them?" I sat up, eager to get stuck in, and felt no pain. That had to be good.

"Here, read the legend. It's quite interesting." Onyx handed me a thin slab of rock with old writing etched into it. It was a little heavy, so I rested it on my thighs.

"Onyx, I can't read…" I began, then stopped. "Wait, I can read this, but I don't know where I've seen it before."

"It's in an old language that's quite similar to old Al Bhed, but at the same time, very different. Can you read it?"

I nodded.

_"A great tyrant shall come to rule our great city. With him shall come a reign of terror and war. Our people shall be exposed and revealed to the other races of the world. Our steeds shall be our solace._

_Out of the new lands shall come a woman and her companion. She is a half-blood, he is pure. The two will be trained in the arts of the mind, and when the tyrant pits them against each other, whether the woman chooses to fight or not will prevent or start the Great Spira War. The bond of the two will see them through, yet only she can vanquish the tyrant, and if she does she must make the ultimate sacrifice. Only the love of her companion can undo the sacrifice yet keep the tyrant defeated._

_The companion is quiet and selfless, and an old friend of the woman. He will be the rock in the hour of need._

_She, the hurt treasure, is also quiet, yet reformed. Her name is false, and she will eventually reveal her true identity. Her skin is snow and her hair is Assassin, but her eyes are fires that burn with a heat so intense none can withstand it. When the fire-eyed maiden comes, rally to her._

_She will be her saviour."_

"So, what does it say?" Onyx asked.

"You mean, you can't read it?" I asked.

"Er, no."

Surprised, I told them what it said. There was silence for a few minutes before Gold said, "If that prophecy comes true, I can only pity that poor girl who's going to go through a hell of a lot."

"A fire-eyed maiden?" Silver asked, then all eyes turned to me.

"Oh, no, don't look at me. I don't have a guy to be the companion and I do not have a double identity." I said, putting up my hands. Well, half of it was true…but I decided to distract them. "What if…what if it's Paine? She must have a double identity by now."

"Yes…we've considered that…" Yuna said, implying that they'd dismissed the idea.

"Well…" I said, uncomfortable with the silence in the room, "…I think I'm going to have a rest now." I said to excuse myself. Everyone's faces immediately changed.

"Yeah, you do that, Ruby. I'll leave some of the stuff here so you can look at it." Onyx said, putting some stuff on my bedside table. I waited till they had all gone, before I looked at the first things.

I had to admit, the prophecy had _seriously_ freaked me out. It was too similar to me for comfort.

The first thing I looked at was a small list of Assassin encounters. _'Murder of Shamadar Benzo Tasii, 36, married to Cecayla Madhuna Tasii, 34. Assassin group claimed full responsibility for reasons unknown. Attempted arson of the house of Maester Mika, Assassins sighted soon after, believed to have been an Assassin attempt. Attempted theft of numerous items at Bevelle Temple, three suspects caught, all silver-haired and chocolate-eyed and around the age of twenty, no names found, all somehow escaped. Murder of Adenar Zill…'_

I gasped. _Adenar Zill…_my mother…

I read on. _'Murder of Adenar Adaya Zill, 29, married to Auron Farkari Zill, age unknown, carried out by Assassins, two Assassins killed by Auron as they tried to escape, Auron soon disappeared afterwards leaving their child, Paine Zonarm Zill, an orphan, Paine taken to orphanage, eventually ran away, never seen again…' _

_Oh yes I was_, I thought. Here was an almost complete record of my early life. Perhaps Onyx had shown it to Yuna and Rikku. Yes, she probably had.

_Paine Zonarm Zill. _Paine was the surname of a family friend, and it sounded like 'pain' so I grew to like it; what a strange child I was. Zonarm meant Wildfire, and Zill, my surname, meant Shadow. My mother told me all this when I was very young but I still remember it.

There was only one item more. It was a black and white – no, faded to near black and white – picture of many people all dressed in Ninja uniforms. I looked along what could be seen of the faces. Through the oncoming sepia tones I could see they all had the same colour skin and the same yes. They seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite place them…

Then suddenly I saw different eyes, fiery red eyes staring out at me from the picture. Even though it was faded I instantly recognised their fire. They were like my red eyes…like my mother's red eyes…

A wave of nausea hit, and I sank down into the bed.


	7. We'll Be Back

The Warriors: We'll Be Back

I could hear raised voices outside my room. _Here we go again…_

Three days had passed since I had found out about the prophecy and my mother, and the Gullwings and the Warriors were…let's say…not exactly on good speaking terms.

"Will you lot bloody keep it quiet!" I shouted, casually banging on the door. I was sitting near it, reading a book. The voices didn't dim. Instead they got louder and louder until I could hear the words.

"Oh, so you think you're so high-and-mighty, do you? Well _excuse me_, your _lowness_, do you really want to try a duel with me?"

Uh oh…that was Gold.

"Well, you try handling a sword as heavy as mine!" Kewa…

"As heavy as yours? Ha! Ours are twice as thick and long, and you say yours are heavier! Aww, poor old Kewa, can't handle a teeny-weeny _dagger_, rather than a sword. Girly little Kewa…"

I gritted my teeth to stop me shouting at Silver.

"Yeah, aren't guys meant to be 'stronger' than girls?" mocked Gold.

I opened my door and peered into the corridor. The two sets of twins were having a face-off and it didn't look good.

"Guys, don't start off again." Baralai groaned, exiting his room. The whole corridor was looking out of their rooms to see what the fuss was about.

"We're not starting, we're just trying to get the girls off our backs!" Ditsup hissed.

"We're not _on your backs_. We're annoying you because you're annoying us." Gold replied, pretending to be shocked.

"Gold!" I hissed. I didn't want them to argue either.

"Hey Kewa, catch!" Onyx called, throwing her sword at him so that the hilt was facing him, ready to be caught. Kewa caught it, but tried to lift it and fell straight over.

"Onyx! Not you too!" I shouted, getting angry.

"What? They need to know their own limits." Onyx sneered.

"Hey Onyx, catch!" Kewa and Ditsup both threw their swords at Onyx. Onyx dived for safety, then went to pick up the swords.

"Not so tough now, are we?" Ditsup snarled.

"Yeah well, if I'm not tough, that gives you the brain capacity of a headless hypello dancing naked on a pink shoopuf." Onyx retorted.

This was getting pathetic.

Kewa growled. He _really _growled. Grrr…

"All right, _cut it out_!" I shouted, really getting angry now. Suddenly I felt something welling up within me, I didn't know what it was, and I felt like if this _thing_ didn't get out of me quickly I would burst…

Everyone looked at me. "Go on, off to your stations." I told the two sets of twins.

I had no authority to be bossing them about, but Gold and Silver shot me a spiteful look before turning heel and walking off. I closed my door, then gasped and clutched my head. The strange feeling had gone but left the worst headache imaginable in its place.

What was that? It had almost felt like anger, an emotion that was about to escape my body and wreak vengeance. It was like a power bubbling up inside me, a power that I never knew I had and never wanted to know. It scared me…I had figured out I was half Assassin, and I hadn't known what it meant, but every strange thing that happened to me I was able to connect with the Assassins. I couldn't connect this, though.

I looked at the photo again. There she was, my mother, sitting near the middle on the back row. My eyes, my facial features, they were all there. Every single thing looked like me, except I was possibly was a little taller than her.

Onyx had let me keep the picture. I had told her that I thought I recognised some of them, and she had let me keep it to think about. But it was true. Apart from Adenar (my mother) there was a short guy sitting at the front, a girl next to my mother, a guy next to my mother and another guy next to that…I very nearly recognised half of the people in it, making at least a dozen people.

"Hey, Ruby!" I heard a knock at my door and recognised Onyx's voice.

"Come in." I said.

"Look at this!" Onyx breathed. She seemed very excited, and Diamond followed her in, just as breathless. Onyx was holding a picture, an exact copy of my picture, but it had been drawn on. Numerous people were crossed out in a broad red ink, and everyone's names had been scribbled on, and those who were crossed out also had the words 'dealt with' written on them.

"I've got a hunch. Let's have a look at that Assassin encounters list," Diamond said.

I took the sheet and, beginning to grasp on, read out the first name. "Shamadar Benzo Tasii." I said.

"He's here, crossed and dealt with."

"Cecayla Madhuna Tasii."

"Here. 'Pardoned', apparently."

"Adenar Adaya Zill." I said softly, knowing what the answer would be.

"Here, crossed out and dealt with." Onyx said. "She looks fierce…must have been a hard one to fight. Paine must have inherited that. You don't suppose these people were criminals?"

"They could have been. That's why they were 'dealt with', or killed, probably."

"No." I said, suddenly. "They were deserters. They deserted when Anansi came to power."

"Ruby!" Onyx shouted in alarm. For I had spoken, not with my voice, but with a deeper, man's voice, and I had not said the words, though my mouth had moved. Something had said it through me.

"What was that?" I panted. It had been a short phrase, but I felt like all my breath had been taken away.

"Something was speaking through you." Diamond said, calmly. Perhaps she had once had a similar experience?

My first thoughts went immediately to Shuyin. That he was back and for some reason still hated and wanted to get rid of us. That Shuyin possessed me.

But no. I could still make my own actions, and there were no pyreflies circling around my body, so I certainly wasn't possessed.

"Perhaps…you should leave me alone for a bit." I gasped, gripping my throat.

Onyx and Diamond looked at each other. "You'll be ok?" Diamond asked. "Practise is in half an hour."

"Don't worry, I'll make it," I replied, nodding. Diamond and Onyx left the room, and I collapsed onto my bed. _Oh Yevon_, I thought, _what was that?_

I was seriously scared now. My mother was an Assassin, murdered by Assassins for deserting, I was half-Assassin, and now this…I reached my hands up to my burning head and feared that something was going to happen through me, something no one could stop now.

**[Baralai's room]**

Sitting in his room, Baralai's thoughts were mixed.

One, he was thinking about the night the Assassins tried to Assassinate him. Two, he was thinking about the Gullwings and the Warriors. Three, he was thinking about Paine and Ruby.

By now he had come to terms with the feelings inside and knew that, without realising it, he had fallen in love with Paine. He had perfectly accepted that fact. He believed that she could never love him back, but without any knowledge of her situation or whereabouts his heart and soul were quickly tearing apart. Still, he wasn't thinking about _that_.

He had heard the prophecy and knew there were only two females he knew who matched that description: Paine and Ruby. Ruby had denied any connections with the Assassins and the fact she could read the prophecy was the only thing that might have spoken against her. That only left Paine. Paine, whose eyes were made of fire and whose skin was snow.

But there had to be a connection, he knew it. There was a connection, which bound the Assassins, Paine and Ruby all together. He wouldn't openly accuse Ruby of it, because he didn't think she knew anything about it.

And then the companion, a pureblood. _Only the love of the companion can undo the sacrifice yet keep the tyrant defeated._ He loved Paine…but it couldn't be. He wasn't an Assassin. He denied it. He could never be able to do it and besides, he didn't know where Paine was or whether she was still alive. The Assassins had nearly killed him, for crying out loud! How could he be one of them?

There had been an argument a few minutes ago and Ruby had stopped it. It wasn't the first moment she'd been almost completely Paine-like in her actions, therefore not the first time she'd driven a hefty spike through his heart.

But no, Ruby wasn't Paine. It was suspicious, but she couldn't be. Believe it or not, she was much better with the sword than Paine and Paine would never do stupid things like taking on an oversoul Humbaba on her own.

But then again, Paine would have been so faithful to her friends she _would_ have done it, to get her friends out first.

Baralai's thoughts drifted to the night of the Assassin attack. Such fierce chocolate eyes and dark skin…the Assassin had almost looked like its victim. When they'd removed his hood after killing him, he even had the same colour hair as Baralai.

The resemblance was suspicious, yes…but surely just a coincidence?

**[Outside]**

It was time for practise. It was the eighth practice with the Warriors since my recovery, as there were either two or three a day, and I was already progressing fast. I was beginning to scare everyone at how good I was, and was only allowed to tackle a minimum of three people, because none of my training partners – Bevellian soldiers – were strong enough to fight with me alone. We often trained with the New Yevon guards because it was amusing how much better we were than them. Besides, it gave us girls a chance to beat up boys, an amusement that never got old, no matter how old _you_ got. My current best was twenty of the guards in thirty seconds. That's one down every 1.5 or one and a half seconds, two down every three. Diamond rarely actually fought us, she was more of a teacher. She would correct us, or show us a new move. So generally, she spent a lot of her time with Emerald and let us get on with it. She occasionally sparred with Onyx to keep in shape, but would disappear for an hour afterwards to hunt fiends in the dying woods of Macalania. I had only ever spoken to her once in practises, and that was to get her to time me when I made my record at beating the guards.

But today was different. Diamond had assigned each of us to take the Warriors entrance test to assess our progress and to re-evaluate the standings within the group. We would start with Emerald, then Gold, then Silver (the twins fighting on their own), then Onyx, then me, then Diamond. When the fights were taking place, that was the order we'd come on in, but if any of us beat the person ahead of us twice we'd move up the scale. Of course, no movement happened before my go, though the standard had toughened.

Cor, that meant I was the new second-only-to-Diamond.

We warmed up, and then Emerald took her place. Some guards had come to watch us train, and I knew that by my go there would be loads.

Gold charged first and Emerald met her attack with equal strength. I could see Emerald was already getting better, and we had been told to take it easy on her. Gold was eventually beaten, and then Silver was, but Onyx (after quite a good duel) defeated her, then I defeated her slightly quicker, then Diamond a little faster than I did. We had half an hour's recovery time to make it a fair test. Gold's defeats also started with Onyx, but Silver's started with me. Onyx was a real challenge for me, but I knew I could defeat her and only Diamond and me managed to.

Then it was I, slightly tired out from my duel with Onyx, but knowing that I could take them all if I tried. Well, excepting Diamond.

By now three-quarters of the guard had arrived and were watching. I had heard their praises for Onyx and they were brilliant, but mine were something else. "Watch this one, she fights like a demon." I heard one say, and another said, "Takes at least fifty of us to come close to beating her."

I smirked. That was true. We'd tested that last week.

Emerald charged at me head on. I met her attack and was quite pleased at her effort. She obviously didn't want to be beaten as easily as last time and I was surprised at the Al Bhed's courage. "Good Emerald, good!" I muttered. I could already feel her attacks growing stronger and her speed becoming faster. She was _so_ fast! Her defence was hardened and if anything she had more energy than before. It took me longer to defeat her but I did in the end, later than I would have if I hadn't taken it easy on her. I congratulated her on her progress, then prepared to take on Gold. Emerald did seem quite proud of herself for lasting.

"Gold's coming in with Silver!" Onyx shouted. I understood. It would be more of a challenge for me to take them on together.

This time I couldn't keep knocking one away and dealing with the other, I had to take them both head-on. But I had done this before and knew a lot of their tricks and turns, and turned them inside out and used their own tricks back on them. Gold was known to shout 'Touché!" a lot, so I copied her, but every time it was voiced it reminded me of the time we battled Baralai.

That reminds me. Say this really fast ten times: I went to Bevelle to Battle Bahamut and Baralai.

Onyx was on after the twins were defeated, and I enjoyed battling Onyx. Not because she was near to my level and was always a challenge, but because she was always coming up with new ideas, just like me, and we often took each other by surprise.

But Onyx seemed to have run out of ideas lately and she was quickly defeated (by her standards). Diamond came on and very nearly lost, but eventually beat me.

When we duelled, it was like a strange and powerful dance, albeit a rather tired and sloppy dance by now as I was tiring and Onyx quickly tired out, too. A couple of funny tricks from both of us, some acrobatics, and Onyx was down and out. The battle lasted a good while, though.

It was Diamond's turn now, and all the guards were around. Taking it easy on everyone but defeating everyone, her fighting style was the best and her strength and speed were unmatched.

I came on last, determined to put up an even better fight this time. Now I could hear more whispers. "Watch this, they're bringing the other demon on. Watch carefully." "Look, this next one's never been beaten."

Diamond steadily paced round, not like the charges of the others. Her hair was tied up in her characteristic navy blue ribbon that she always wore for training and fighting; the rest of the time she let her sky blue dyed hair fall loose around her hips. For someone so quiet, she had a flair for colour.

I prepared for her attack. "Sure you don't want a rest?" she joked.

I smiled. The second to last time we'd duelled had been that very first time, though she hadn't really watched me before in any great detail, so this would be a learning curve by both our standards. "No thanks."

I was prepared from our previous match for the speed of her attack and met it full-on. She took the upper hand first and I was content for a while to conserve my strength behind my defence. She would know that I was simply analysing her performance, looking for her favourite moves and her weaknesses. She would only do the same when I took the attack, so I would have to quickly find a way to take her out and do it fast, before she learned too much about me. Analysing her and fighting her was hard enough, so I was glad I'd picked up some pointers from her previous matches; I wasn't glad that she'd done the same.

She'd noticed how I liked to take a low guard and that striking me above was a very good way to sap at my strength; I'd noticed that her weaker area was her left leg and if I was able to knock it, I would seriously attack her mobility.

Two minutes had passed when Diamond's sword slipped and grazed my arm. It wasn't as bad as our first duel, but I could feel part of the strength leaving the arm as the blood slowly oozed. Between blows, Diamond asked if I wanted to stop, but I knew my arm could hold out for a while and I went on.

We were moving down the Highbridge and I could see a few of the priests coming out to watch us. I could see Shelinda, one of the reporters who had come to document the Assassin search, also run down the steps with her cameraman. Bless her heart.

Did I just say that?

Flipping over Diamond, I changed the direction and we headed up the Highbridge. Diamond had me on a weak defence and I was the one moving backwards, trying to knock away her blows and succeeding.

As she came down for a high blow right down my centre line, I somehow managed to get my sword up in time. She had been expecting me to defend from my right, though I'd come from my left, my weakest side, so I somehow managed to get my sword round hers and weaken her grip on the hilt. Not wasting the opportunity, I brought my sword towards her left shoulder, and she defended. Astonishingly, I'd gained the upper hand.

If I'd cared to look, I would have noticed that Onyx had nearly fainted in shock.

Diamond was just as surprised as I was and our blows weakened temporarily under the surprise, but we quickly got our heads together before something else miraculous happened. We now danced in a circle, pacing round, our swords in a surprisingly fast flurry of movement, Diamond really working to get back the upper hand. I needed to act fast.

I noticed how she had made one small, vital mistake; she wasn't holding her sword the way she usually did and I could just about notice her discomfort in her blows, though she seemed to have forgotten it. The opposing grip was not something the rest of the warriors focused on as it usually was your own grip you focused on, but as I'd taken so long finding my own way of holding a sword, I'd always paid close attention to my enemy's.

I took a risk. I put all my energy into one last, finishing blow. Diamond put her sword up to parry it and I struck low on the sword, the strongest point. I had put enough weight into it for enough to carry through to her hands. The sword slipped through her weaker grip and clattered to the ground.

I found myself holding my sword to Diamond's throat, with my opponent lying flat on the floor. From the sword beginning to slip to that point had all happened in a blow. My risk had paid off.

"Diamond down…" a stunned Emerald announced. "Ruby is the victor."

I walked forward and took Diamond's sword. It was very well-crafted but plain, with no markings or encryptions. I walked over to her and helped her up, then gave her the sword.

"Well done, Ruby." she said, looking at me. She wasn't hurt or upset. In fact, she was beaming at me as if I had just given her the best news in the world. I now realised what a true teacher she was; no matter how badly I eventually would learn to beat her, she'd always be overjoyed with the progress I made.

As everyone realised Diamond was absolutely fine, Emerald rushed at me and threw her arms round me. "Ruby's the best warrior in Bevelle!" she shouted. "Did you see her?" she asked no one in particular.

"May I offer one, small point, before I give you the low-down tomorrow?" Diamond asked. I turned to look at her. "Get your guard around your arm sorted, or get some armour on." she smiled. "I might end up cutting it off."

**[Nearly 3 hours later]**

"And not three hours later, the Gullwings and the Warriors are already trying to slit each other's throats." I muttered, opening my door to see what was happening this time. _Hang there, this could get nasty,_ I thought. The rest of the Warriors were all standing at one end of the corridor, with the whole of the Gullwings, including Buddy and co (but without Shinra, who was sitting at the side), facing them. Baralai was sitting with Shinra, and I went to join them. It seemed us three were the only neutral people.

"Look, we're trying our hardest but we have so little evidence!" Diamond told Yuna. Diamond and Yuna were standing at the front of the Gullwings and Warriors. "You can't expect us to find a runaway when she left almost all her stuff behind and has only been spotted once! We've sent scouts to Macalania; we're doing all we can. If there's any other information you can give us-"

"Fine! Her full name is Paine Zonarm Zill, though I think you knew that. She grew up in Kilika. She once mentioned something about an orphanage. She was part of a Crimson Squad group as a teen, as the recorder. That's all we haven't told you! Happy now?" Yuna stepped forward to be right in front of Diamond.

_Yevon dammit, they're arguing because the Warriors haven't found me,_ I thought, watching them anxiously. No wonder the argument was so heated and serious. I felt a little guilty - there they were, arguing that they hadn't found me, while I was standing watching them from the side.

Again, I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier.

"No, Lady Yuna, the question is, are _you _happy now?" Onyx replied, stepping forward.

"Is that a threat?" Rikku stepped forward to Onyx's level.

"Could be."

"Hey, you don't want to mess with Rikku. She's faster than you are any day. She'd whip before you knew what was coming." Calli stepped forward.

"Well Onyx is so strong Rikku would be thrashed in one go." Emerald stepped up to Calli.

"Calm down, guys." I said, but no one paid any attention.

"We need more time. I can't say how long, but you should understand how little evidence we have." Diamond said. "I suggest you take it easy."

"Look, stop it."

"Take it easy, huh?" Yuna asked.

"Calm down!" Baralai called, his hand on his rod.

"I suggest _you_ hurry up." Yuna continued.

"We can't!" Diamond repeated, hotly. "Stop being so self-absorbed, Yuna! Just because you're High Summoner doesn't mean you can boss us about!"

A sharp warning tingle ran down my neck. I thought it was for the arguing Warriors and Gullwings, but something made me swing my head round and just catch a glimpse of a sliver of a shadow at the stairs. I stood up.

"Don't you start now, Ruby!" Yuna warned me. "Just because you look like Paine doesn't mean you can influence us!"

"I wasn't going to start on you!" I shouted, glaring at her. The strange feeling inside of me suddenly swelled up fit to burst. "Can't you lot leave each other alone? We're trying to work together here, there's no room for arguments! Besides, if Paine doesn't want to be found, there's not a lot we can do!"

I seemed to be forgetting that _I_ was Paine.

"You want to challenge that theory?" Yuna asked me. If only she knew who she was speaking to…

Suddenly the feeling snapped and without knowing what was happening or what I was doing I closed my eyes as the feeling completely took over. Then suddenly I put that flat of my palm up in Yuna's direction and without even making contact with Yuna, some strange force pushed her and the Gullwings through the air and right down the corridor. Something made me do the same to Diamond and the Warriors.

The feeling passed as quickly as it had gone and I collapsed the floor. My head felt like it was about to split and I clutched it so hard, like I could strangle the pain if I tried hard enough. My whole body was racked with sudden exhaustion.

"Ruby!" shouted Baralai and Shinra, moving forwards and trying to help me up.

Even through my splitting headache, my skin tingled again with warning. Instinct told me there was more than one, an instinct I never knew I had. I drew my sword and struggled up. "Something's near." I said.

Baralai looked at me, confused, then his eyes widened as well. "I feel it too." Baralai murmured, extending his rod to a small length. He was just as curious and wary as myself.

"Whatever's there, show yourself!" I called.

For a moment, nothing moved. "I am Praetor Baralai Farkari Labad. I command you to show yourself!"

A dark figure appeared in front of the Warriors and two in front of the Gullwings. Dressed in Ninja-style cloaks and hoods, all that could be seen was their eyes and a little bit of skin through a slit in their hood.

"Assassins." I said. "You are Assassins, aren't you?"

The Assassin at the Warriors nodded, but then his eyes widened. He gave a signal to his companions, speaking in a strange language I recognised and could translate from the prophecy.

"Zinn tilug! Kwodakwb ba Anansi! I sinz-poaap ilp i dekwopoaap ib Bevelle Bofbam – ilp dero dekwopoaap hk Praetor Baralai!"_ Fall back! Report to Anansi! A half-blood and a pureblood at Bevelle Temple - and the pureblood is Praetor Baralai! _The language was very similar to Al Bhed, but in a funny way - in fact, it seemed to be based on it.

Baralai and I both felt sharp pains course through our body, paralysing us temporarily. "Dera sinz-poaap fiu ta dero alo zkwaf deoa dkwadrogu." _The half-blood may be the one from the prophecy._

Then he looked at us. "_Mo'nn to tilug!_" he said, then vanished.

Baralai was shaking next to me. I began to realise the first assassination attempt had not hurt him physically, but mentally he was still in a state of shock.

"It's ok." I turned around to face him. "I don't think they were coming to kill you, they were just scouts."

He turned to face me. "You don't know what it's like! To be in the dark, knowing - knowing something's near but, but not being able to see it, and you feel c-cold steel on your n-neck and have less than a second to react…" He was beginning to stammer and he looked away, not wanting to work himself up. I wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, but I resisted the urge. I had to distance myself.

"What did they say?" Onyx asked, shakily getting up, looking at me as if I was an alien. "You understand-"

"_We'll be back_." I replied. And I knew why they would come.


	8. Anansi

_Songs credits follow at the end of the fic._ The Warriors: Anansi

"Nooj! Leblanc, Gippal!" Baralai welcomed his visitors with open arms. Cheeky Gippal coaxed him into a high-five, while Nooj bowed awkwardly and Leblanc hugged him.

"Hey, how's old New Yevon running?" relaxed as ever, Gippal stood, hands behind head, slouching slightly.

"Oh, we're on the right track now. Thanks to you and Nooj more people are beginning to have faith in us. Besides, we, uh…_cunningly_ changed some of the outdated and needless qualities of our group." Baralai spoke softly and politely as ever, just with slightly more warmth and a smile.

"Rikku!" Gippal smiled as Rikku ran towards him. He swept her into a hug, lifted her up, swung her around then put her back down and the couple kissed.

I rolled my eyes and looked away. I hadn't forgotten what Gippal had said on the boat. And I'll bet that at the moment the precious ring was tucked safely in his pocket, waiting for the right moment.

"May I introduce the Warriors, who are helping our search." Baralai said, holding his arm out to us. Needless to say, relations with the Gullwings had _not_ improved. Baralai went through the introductions again and when it came to my turn I could barely stop myself laughing. Not because it was funny, because of how calm and polite Gippal acted, pretending he didn't know me!

"Look, love." Leblanc said to Nooj. "Doesn't she look like…"

"She's not her." Nooj decided. Smiling was all I could do to stop myself laughing. I'd even fooled _Nooj_.

We went inside, everyone except Emerald avoiding me. Even Emerald was more cautious than usual. I guess I had scared them…

"Hey Gippal, got a prezzie for you!" Rikku jumped up and ran on ahead. Gippal raised his eye at Baralai, expecting him to know something.

Baralai shrugged. "She's your girl."

Rikku came bounding down a few moments later - with a machina, electric guitar!

"Oh, sweet!" Gippal said, taking the guitar, eyes wide. "It's brilliant! How long have you known I've always wanted one of these?" Rikku only smiled, looking cute.

Gippal tried a few notes on it, then got into it more and started playing some tunes. Then he went through the complete guitar part for some rock song I hadn't heard. I'd always meant to expand my musical knowledge as, believe it or not, even I had my tastes in music, but I never quite got round to it.

Everyone clapped and Gippal pretended to bow. "Hey, you've got one of these, haven't you?" Gippal asked Baralai.

"Not that I've much time for it, but yeah." Baralai replied. "I have one. We have quite a few instruments tucked up in corners, though I can't fathom why."

"Playtime!" Gippal called. "Where d'you keep them?"

Baralai gestured to a young acolyte. "Ash, rally some others and fetch the instruments. Bring them up to the corridor."

"Yes, sir!" the acolyte bowed, then scurried away.

We all walked up to the corridor. Gippal dropped back to say a quick 'kept hidden then, huh?' then walked back to Rikku. Then Gippal spotted a balcony to the left, and quickly led Rikku to it, closing the doors and curtains behind it. Moments later we heard excited screaming and Gippal's familiar laugh.

_That was a quick proposal, _I thought.

Rikku burst out of the doors at us and ran at Yuna. Yuna scooped her into a hug, laughing but not quite sure what had happened.

"Yunie! Guys! I'm _getting married_!" Rikku shouted the last two words so loud I had to cover my ears and crouch down in shock. I wouldn't be surprised if they heard her in Besaid.

"Really? Wow. Who's the lucky guy?" Gippal joked, emerging from the room. The others had broken into squeals of childish delight.

Yuna swept Rikku up in a tight embrace. Baralai gave Gippal a light punch. "Hey, who's the man?" Baralai joked, smiling. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Gippal smiled back. The two hugged, and then Gippal went away to give Rikku another hug, then kissed her passionately.

I looked at them with a contented smile, but only wished I could have been there as Paine to offer some stupid, backhanded compliment. I slipped away from the happy scene and went down to the other corridor.

I gingerly picked up an electric guitar. I used to play it a bit before…before my parents died.

_That's a G chord, _I thought, playing a few notes. _And that's E minor…_

Onyx joined me, but I didn't feel shy about playing with her around. Slowly I worked my way through the chords, then softly sang while playing.

"Under this national raincloud I'm getting soaked to the skin, trying to find my umbrella, but I don't know where to begin…and it's simply irrational weather, can't even hear myself think; constantly bailing out water. I still feel like I'm gonna sink.

"Cause I'm under the weather just like the world; so sorry for being so bold. When I turn out the light you're out of sight although I feel that I'm not alone…feels like home."

I heard footsteps up the stairs and immediately stood up. Yuna appeared round the corner, smiling. She saw me and she said, "No, carry on. I like it."

Cautiously, I sat down, then took my eyes off Yuna and began to sing again.

"You say you feel like a natural person, you haven't got nothing to hide. So why do you feel imperfection cut like a sword in your side?""'Cause you're under the weather, just like the world so sorry for being so bold. When I turn out the light you're out of sight although I know that I'm not alone. Feels like home, yes it feels like home."

"Oh 'cause I'm under the weather, just like the world and I need somebody to hold. When I turn out the light, you're out of sight although I know that I'm not alone. Feels like home…"

I smiled, looking down at my guitar. I remembered so many songs from my childhood, yet hated to remember…I looked up to see Emerald smiling down on me.

"Well done. Now I'll take _that_," she said, snatching my guitar, "and you can have _this!_" she finished, handing me a triangle.

"Hey!" I cried, leaping up after her. I got up funny and managed a few steps before I stumbled and fell - straight into Baralai who stretched out his arms to catch me. He picked me straight up and I pushed against him for more balance. Then we looked up and met each other's eyes.

Baralai had one arm on my shoulder, one on my hip. I had both my hands on his chest. For a few moments we paused there, too embarrassed to move, then we both shot away from each other like bullets, mumbling excuses and apologies. Then there was an awkward silence.

Eventually, Tidus on the keyboard smiled at us and played a tango that was _very_ familiar.

"Who remembers this?" Tidus smiled. Yuna laughed, picked up a guitar and began playing the part that should be played on the violin - but we had no violins. I joined her on mine and through various instruments Gippal and Rikku were the only ones left in the middle.

"You're mean!" Gippal grinned, then began to sing in a deep, hoarse accent that it was once sung in and began to dance with Rikku.

"**Roxanne, you don't have to put on that red light…Walk the streets for money, You don't care if it's wrong or if it's right…**"

_Wow, that's not a bad impression, _I thought. I wondered what his real voice was like – it was already surprisingly deep. But then, people didn't always speak in the middle of their singing range. I knew that I could reach quite high notes and my speaking voice was right at the bottom of the spectrum. Rikku and Gippal were already entirely focused on their heated, dark dance.

_**"…Roxanne, you don't have to wear that dress tonight. Roxanne, you don't have to sell your body to the night…"**_

Baralai took up the other man's part and this man was meant to sing about a different woman.

"His eyes upon your face…his hand upon your hand…his lips caress your skin…it's more than I can stand!"

I took more care listening to his voice this time. It was certainly beautiful, but untouched, like he hadn't sung much. Like someone who loved to sing in their spare time and had picked up their expertise through that.

"**Roxanne…**" "Why does my heart cry…"

_**"Roxanne…"**_

"…Feelings I can't fight? You're free to leave me but just don't deceive me and please, believe me when I say I love you!"

Tidus joined in to help Baralai with his part. He, too, didn't sound like he had sung much before, but certainly had some talent. Brother, Buddy and Shinra tagged along and we girls made up our own parts. I didn't get the chance to play a simple part because Baralai made me put my guitar down then led me to the centre and had me dance the tango with him! Of course, it was not nearly as advanced as Gippal and Rikku – in fact, it was very silly – but it made my heart flutter a little.

_**"Roxanne…**"_

_"Why does my heart cry feelings I can't fight?"_

"Roxanne…"

_"You're free to leave me but just don't deceive me and please, believe me when I say I love you!"_

"Why does my heart cry feelings I can't fight…"

Then it goes into a chorus part and in the actual song it's hugely dark and violent with plenty of things going on at the same time and it's such a beautiful song. Yuna was left with the last part and trailed off into nothing, mysteriously yet suddenly as the professionals do it.

I was exhilarated from my dance with Baralai and thrilled he had let me dance with him - actually, asked me to!

The Gullwings let us do some. Onyx sang 'One Day I'll Fly Away', I had already sung something so I didn't sing again, Gold and Silver performed 'I Know Him So Well' and Emerald did a thrilling version of 'All That Jazz'. Of course, Emerald is a drama queen by nature so she wasn't shy with her song.

Then we were all preparing to sing a wonderful song called 'When You Believe' when Rikku made a strange suggestion.

"Hey Yunie…how do you think the dresspheres would react to the warriors?"

They had all been trying really hard to get to know us again and this was really a long shot. However Tidus had no idea of the rivalry and immediately shouted, "Yeah! Shinra's cloned plenty of copies, hasn't he? It would be interesting to see how they react!"

Shinra put up a finger to say 'Hang on a minute', then scurried to the end of the corridor where there was a big case. "I thought the Gullwings might want to do some spherechanging for this, so I brought all the spheres."

He opened the bag, then looked at me and the Warriors. "If you put your swords down away from you they won't change, just your outfit." We all put our swords away from us, then Shinra handed the spheres to us. "You can have Alchemist," Shinra said, handing the sphere to Emerald. "Then you and you can have Warrior," he handed two identical spheres to Gold and Silver, "Then you can have Samurai, you can have White Mage and you can have Shark." Onyx received Samurai, Diamond received White Mage and I got Shark.

I was interested. Shark? That's a new one. I immediately realised my luck - if Shinra had given me one of the old ones, I would have had to make up an excuse not to wear it - they'd recognise my costume.

"Shark is a strange one." Shinra went round explaining about the dresspheres, then finally reached me. "It's generally one that helps for underwater battles."

I waited for Yuna to explain how to use them (didn't want to look suspicious, already knowing how) then immediately tried it out. It came up with a slightly skimpy outfit, but nothing like the thief.

First of all, all the clothes were made of waterproof materials. I had a dog collar round my neck (my style!), then the top was a strange one. It looked like a green with silver runes, halter neck, cropped top and did go up in a triangle kind of thing, but at the bit where it would go round my neck the straps instead went along to my shoulders and joined onto - sleeves! They were tight, but not too tight and very waterproof. They were blue, with a little yellow underneath, and went all the way down and even covered my hands like gloves. But the astonishing thing was there were two blades attached, which went from my wrist to a little before my elbow, very effective if you're fighting underwater. The rest was simple - a green, tight miniskirt (which was tight so I knew it wouldn't float upwards) with a yellow belt, then blue, knee-length boots with silver laces and another silver bit at the top. It was simple but I liked it.

We were all laughing at each other - even the Gullwings. It seemed for a minute we were on the way to getting along. It was a beautiful moment, though. Diamond was laughing with Rikku and Emerald, and Yuna was with the twins, laughing at Tidus who had decided to try a Warrior dressphere (but he took it straight off). Calli was on Brother's shoulder and they and Shinra were laughing with Onyx and me. Brother just looked put out – typical.

Then it all went wrong. Baralai was the first to hear it, looking towards the sound then running into a room and peering out the window, then rushing out onto the balcony. Then we all felt a trembling and rushed after him, not all fitting in the one balcony but going to other rooms.

Out towards the Calm Lands pass a black army was approaching the city. There was at least a couple of ten thousand of them - possibly a hundred thousand. There were black, cloaked figures in the sky - it scared me to see the people weren't riding anything and were flying - by themselves.

One flew up to us. "_Mo'kwo tilug!_" he said, sinisterly, then flew back at an amazing speed.

We're back!

"It's the Assassins!" I shouted, running out of the room, down the stairs and out of the temple with the others hot on my heels. I let Baralai overtake me as we came to the walls of the city. We walked through the gate and a man bearing a blue flag - the symbol for a request of a parley - rode up to us on a strange beast. It looked a little like Ixion, but a lot plainer, with the tail further down, longer and straighter, and less fluffy. The mane was less fluffy, too, and it had no horn.

"My leader requests an audience with the Praetor Baralai and the woman with red eyes who accompanies him." the man reported. "Do you grant the request?"

"I do." Baralai replied.

The man galloped away at a very fast pace, then returned with a man. Like all of the Assassins, he was dressed in a black cloak and ninja-style outfit, but his cloak was trimmed with red and his hood had red edges round the eye slit. He removed his hood to reveal a handsome yet evil face, drawn into a sneer. He had high cheekbones and dark skin with shoulder-length, silver hair and chocolate eyes. Baralai looked shocked at the resemblance. The man was riding a creature a lot like the one the flag-bearer was, except this one had a horn and was pure white, with intricate silver markings running along its body and highlighting its hair. It didn't look very happy.

"Are you surprised at the likeness, Praetor?" the man sneered at us all. I had almost expected a high, evil voice like in stereotypes, but his was low and menacing.

"Just a little." Baralai answered, then bowed. "I am Praetor Baralai, as you guessed. The woman you asked for is named Ruby."

I stepped forward, and nodded.

"Anansi." The man replied. "I have no doubt you have heard of me. Forgive the use of our language by our scouts, not many of us know yours."

"Why do you come here?" Baralai asked.

"Simple; we Assassins own a small island, that is all. Our numbers are rising and we need new land. This country would be perfect. And we shall not have to kill anyone if you surrender."

We all had a feeling this was not true. Bordering behind that almost sane reason was the sheer cruel delight in his eyes and the delighted smirk on his face.

"We will not surrender." Baralai said, then for some strange reason, recoiled. I braced myself as I felt Anansi beginning to enter my mind. I put him off, but he didn't exit, his eyes fixed on mine.

_Strong, for a half-blood._

"Who are you calling half-blood!" I shouted out loud, to everyone's bemusement.

_You know. _Anansi stated, inside my head. _You know about Adenar. How she betrayed us…ran away with Yevonite filth…bred a half-blood, an impurity…_

"Stop it! Stop it!" I shouted. "Get out! Get out of my head!"

Anansi chuckled and left. "I will look out for you on the battlefield. And if you ever feel something hard and heavy…that will either be a horse's hooves trampling you to death," he pointed towards the flagbearer's creature - or 'horse', "or my unicorn's hooves, as she is striking at you."

He and his messenger rode away on their 'horse' and 'unicorn', then when they reached the army they began to advance.

"To the gate!" Baralai shouted, and we ran inside as the gate began to close. Emerald just managed to make it in. This was entirely unexpected. The Assassins - not just a group of people - but a whole army.

"How come there's so many?" I asked, confused.

Baralai was staring at the gate, wide-eyed. "I could swear that every Assassin I've seen has looked the same, same body colour, hair colour, eye colour. They all wear the same kind of clothing, speak of their ruler Anansi. It's like - it's like they're a whole new race, a whole new race of people."

"Oh Yevon."


	9. Taken Away

The Warriors: Taken Away

"I want all rifleman on the walls, foot soldiers just behind the gate with some flame-throwers, chocobo knights behind them. Perhaps a couple of flame-throwers on the wall, as well." Baralai told his general, who shouted the commands out to be repeated along the line by his captains.

"Has there been a message sent to the Youth League and the Machine Faction?" Baralai asked me. I nodded. "All right, I want you and the Warriors to wait with the soldiers at the gate. Wait till the flame-throwers are through, and then lead the charge. Got that?"

I nodded.

"So go find them!"

I ran off. Emerald was busy handing out weapons to soldiers at the barracks. When I told her, she nodded and promised to be there soon. Gold and Silver were waiting for me at the head of the line, so all I need to find were Diamond and Onyx.

"Diamond! Onyx!" I ran through the temple, calling their names. Suddenly I bumped into a figure. "Sorry, I…Diamond!"

Diamond was crying, bent over double.

"Diamond! What's the matter?" I knelt down beside it. She wouldn't talk and so I reluctantly hugged her until she calmed down a bit. Guess I'm still a bit mean about showing affection.

"It's nothing Ruby, really." Diamond eventually spluttered.

"Even I can tell it's not." I said. "Tell me?"

She looked at me. "I…I guess I'm panicking. The last big battle I was in was when Sin last came. The last few times it was easy, but this time it was stronger, faster. The sinspawn overcame us. And you know what? There were these figures lurking about, all in black, with covered faces. When the sinspawn came, they took their chance. They tried to kill Zana, our neighbour. But Mum and Dad got there first and tried to defend her. The Assassins - I'm sure that's what they were - killed them. I just watched helplessly, from across the road as they were beaten up by the Assassins. Then the sinspawn got to them…destroyed them…limb from limb, blood everywhere… they were still alive, Ruby, still alive and still screaming! Still screaming my name! I couldn't get to them because of the sinspawn and I was so scared, Ruby, for the first time in my life I was _terrified_ because I was alone. The biggest part I could find of them was Mum's hand, Ruby, her _hand_, all mangled and covered in blood. I was _nine_. I had to live with that from nine years old. And I don't want that to happen to any of you. They've got beasts…such beasts…"

I was crying now. I could picture it in my mind. Little nine-year-old Diamond, who'd never known defeat, never known another life, suddenly having everything taken from her in that way.

"Lucky. I know it's a stupid name, but that's what they called me. Lucky. They died calling Lucky." Diamond shook her head. "What an amazing last word. I couldn't bear to hear it afterwards so I changed it. Diamond. Diamonds are clear, pure. It was a way of cleaning everything away."

"Diamond, I don't know whether what I've been through is as bad as what you've been through, but I understand what's it like to watch people close to you die. But this time, Diamond, there's no sinspawn. It's just the Assassins. Assassins - they helped kill your parents. Well, now it's time to show them you're not a helpless nine-year-old any more. You're a fully-grown woman, only ever beaten by one person. And you're NOT going to be afraid. Hear me?"

"But-"

"No buts!" I heard Onyx behind me. "You've got to get over this. I'm not saying forget about it and let go, but don't let it haunt you."

"We'll all be with you." I said. "Me, Onyx, Emerald, Gold and Silver. We're you're family now. And we're not going to die. If we do, we'll all die together."

Diamond snorted. "Great way to go out, huh?" She stood up and took out her sword.

"That's the way!" Onyx smiled. Diamond took out her sword.

Onyx took her hand and the two ran towards the gates.

We reached the gate to find the fighting already in place. The flying Assassins were pelting from the air, sweeping unharmed through the flame-throwers and at us, picking the soldiers off like someone treading on an ant. Any guns seemed to miss all the time - arrows were deflected by some strange force.

"It's like they control everything." Diamond mused.

An Assassin dived at me. I swiped at it, but met some force in the air that stopped me, then a pain in my head. I dropped my sword and clutched my skull and braced myself as I had done with Anansi. The Assassin toyed with my mind but I felt myself growing used to this, somehow creating a way of blocking them. It was so easy: as if it were a mere memory, tucked away.

_Hmm. Someone who can protect their mind, _the Assassin mused then released its hold on my mind and my sword. I collapsed, panting; the mind trick had tired me out so completely. When I recovered enough I was amazed no Assassin had attacked me. Diamond and Emerald were both crouching, clutching their heads beside me, the Assassin still hovering in the air. I struck at it and the Assassin dodged quick as a flash, then landed and ran at me - thankfully he was just as fast as me on the ground.

Our swords clashed together with equal force then we both leapt back, surprised at each other's skill. Then we leapt together again, dodging, jumping, steel on steel ringing loud.

"So you're the half-blood Rimski talked about." The Assassin told me. "_Oacci, _the red-eyed girl with skin like snow. He was quite taken with you."

"Don't talk to me about those scouts, if that's who you're talking about." I replied through gritted teeth. I broke through his defence and he muttered a single cry of surprise before I ran him through.

I sighed, then looked at my sword. "I hope they're not all as easy as that. Appearing hard, then coming up soft."

Behind me I heard something clattering on the pavement. Three horsemen were galloping toward us. I looked at Diamond and Onyx, who had been released when I defeated the Assassin. "Run! We can make our stand at the Temple, if anybody falls back with us."

We all looked round. I could only pick out three defeated Assassins in the mass of bodies by the gate. The only people still standing were the Warriors, the Gullwings, Nooj, Gippal, Leblanc, Baralai and some other random people. "To the Temple!" Diamond shouted. Someone heard and echoed the order.

"Ba dero Bofbam! Ba dero Bofbam!" The Assassins mocked in their own language. _To the Temple! To the Temple!_

We all ran to the Temple, and there we saw that our forces had been depleted by more than a few hundred. Not only that, but Shinra, Rikku, Yuna, Buddy, Nooj, Gold, Silver and Emerald were missing and the Assassins had lost hardly anyone.

"How do we fight people like that?" Diamond panted. "They seem to invade your mind and you just can't get them out!"

"What do you mean? I can fight them off relatively easily. Can't you?"

"HELLO! Ruby, it's practically impossible to get them out of your head!" Onyx exclaimed. "There's no way to fight them!"

"Surprised, eh?" said a familiar, snide voice. We all turned around. Anansi standing there, on the top platform. His lopsided smirk gave him an air of apathy that I could only find myself hating. "I flew in, if you're wondering." he explained. "I'm here to make a bargain, if you like."

"What bargain would that be?"

Anansi looked upwards. Several Assassins flew in through the top windows, carrying some people who were kicking and struggling to get out. My eyes widened as they came closer.

"Emerald!" I shouted. The Assassins were carrying those people missing from our party; Shinra, Rikku, Yuna, Buddy, Nooj, Gold, Silver and Emerald. Nooj was so heavy, poor man, with his machinery that it was taking three Assassins to hold him up. He was unconscious.

Gippal was now facing Anansi, his face like an angry beast. "Let her go!"

"Who, you mean Rikku?" Anansi raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head slightly before saying, "Ah, I see. Your bride-to-be. The Al Bhed Princess and the Machine Faction Leader. What an advantageous marriage."

"Let her go!"

"And the others, if 'Ruby' and Baralai will come with me."

My heart skipped a beat. Baralai and me? I could understand Baralai, but what could he _possibly_ want with me besides killing me?

_Your mother, little one._ Anansi tilted his head at me this time. _Surely you've worked it out. Oh, you have! Oacci, little half-blood, it's your Assassin blood that means I need you. With enough work we could make you forget your Spiran side…_

_Why would I want to forget my Spiran side? _I thought to myself, but was surprised when Anansi answered;

_Ah ha! She's worked it out. Clever little thing, aren't you? You've got your head round telepathy. Very good. People! The half-blood's got her head round telepathy!_

The Assassins near us all laughed at the same time. The others looked disconcerted, not understanding the laugh.

"Ruby." Baralai came up to me, speaking quietly. "I don't know about you but I think that's a fair swap."

I nodded. "But they're obviously completely mad. Giving up the High Summoner? They're either desperate or planning something big."

"Or they need the Praetor of New Yevon to give some secrets up and need you for reasons you don't know." Baralai turned to face Anansi. "We'll come: just give them up first. We can't get away."

"She could." Anansi gestured to me. "She's getting the hang of her mind already. She's already fought some people off. Though I doubt she'd fight me off."

The Assassins let their captives go. Rikku ran straight into Gippal's arms, beginning to cry. Emerald, Gold and Silver stumbled straight to Diamond Onyx and me. Gippal collected the unconscious Nooj, but he recovered as soon as the Assassins' hands left him. Nooj managed to keep dignified until Leblanc appeared, rushing over to him. Nooj actually smiled as he gave Leblanc a hug.

To my surprise, Shinra ran to me and hugged me. "Don't go. Without you and Baralai the Warriors and Gullwings will be at each other again!"

"I think that after this, they'll have forgotten their differences. And they're united in a way they don't know." I told Shinra. "When I get back, everything'll be fine. Don't worry. Now you get out there and help."

"Ruby…"

I learnt forward and whispered in his ear. "_Paine. It's a secret._"

I couldn't read his expression under his mask, but I knew he would either be shocked or overjoyed. He hugged me one last time, before running off.

I slowly let go before turning and walking towards Anansi. "Lawson, Nor, _biwo deroko bma ba dero taibk_." _Take these two to the boats._

"Uok, fikbokw." two Assassins nodded their heads and flew at us. They grabbed our hands and flew away with us, out of the temple window. The other Assassins followed, leaving the temple.

"Where are you taking us?" Baralai called to the Assassin carrying him.

"Citadel."

"What citadel?"

"_Hb'kw dero lifo az aekw ghbu,_" the Assassin carrying me replied. "_Hb mikw ekop ik i Ghbipon hl hbkw oikwnu piukw._ _Mo ekop uaekw makwp zakw hb._" _It's the name of our city. It was used as a Citadel in its early days. We used your word for it._

We eventually landed outside Bevelle on a mountain, somewhere. "_Deb derhkw al,_" one Assassin shoved a black piece of cloth at my eyes, obviously meaning it to be used as a blindfold. _Put this on._

"We don't want you finding your way back. Not till we're finished." The other explained, in a heavily accented voice.

"Why should I? If your city is well protected, then I won't be able to get back." I resisted his command.

"_Vekwb_ _deb derhkw al_!" _Just put it on!_

Without me telling them to, my hands moved to my face and tied the blindfold, as if an invisible force was making them do so. Baralai must have done the same thing.

The world was dark. Suddenly I felt a blow to my head, tried to struggle but fell to the ground. Unconscious.


	10. The Cell

Sorry for the wait…I've been busy on Internet Role-plays, but I think you'll find my writing has improved because of it. I appreciate this hasn't been updated for about a YEAR, but I've been busy with things. And I needed a break from Fandom. Now I'm back, I'm going to take things easy. I won't write a few chapters, then rush in with a new story, then write a few chapters, then a new story, like I did last time. I'm going to try and finish my fics now. Then we'll see what happens. Anyway…you all have Kurissyma san Tybalt to thank for me coming back!

**DragonGirl323: **Sorry, I failed you. *sobs* but I heart you too!

**Ecliptic Warrior: **Nice to see a new face! And don't worry, I will carry on from now on.

**Kurissyma: **I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR GETTING MY BACK ONTO FANFICTION! You may also win a best reviewer prize, because you reviewed almost all the chapters. I will read some of your stories I think, too. *Hands hankie* oh shoosh, no need to cry! It'll all look up soon. And don't worry, I can't write comedy to save my life.

I'm sorry this will only be a shortish chapter, but I need to get back into the swing of things. I might write a couple of one-shots to get back into my style.

*Stretches hands* Ok. Here goes. For those of you who wanted some Painalai fluff, there's a bit in this chapter, though really it's not Painalai, because its Ruby…forget it.

The Warriors: The Cell

It was a while later that I woke up.

I didn't know where I was.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't talk.

I was just…somewhere; I was existing.

Slowly, I began to regain feeling in my fingertips and toes. I wiggled them, just to check they were there. I could almost move my eyebrows. The feeling creeped up my arms and my legs, and spread throughout my face. It was an excruciatingly tiring task - for a while I couldn't even remember why I was there, but the memories came back.

It was unbelievably boring, just lying there. I had little feeling in my back, so I didn't know where I was lying. I was obviously lying on my back though, or I would have felt the floor on another part of my arms rather than the back. I could move the lower part of my arms, and my legs a bit, when I finally opened my eyes; and even then, my vision was blurry.

I could just about see a grey stone ceiling, cracked and old. There were pillars around. The sound reached my ears of metal sliding, creaking, but I could barely hear it. My lips felt dry and cracked. Slowly, painfully, I moved my head. There was a small window, high up on a grey, old wall. All was stone, all around me. So dull, so grey, so boring. I tried to move my head the other way, and furrowed my brows in puzzlement. There, at the other end of the room, were cold iron bars stretching across the entrance to my room. My room was about ten foot in every direction - it wasn't that high, and not very big, but not too small. But one thing struck me most.

It resembled a prison cell.

Panic seized through me, and I regained the feeling in my body. Sitting up, I looked around. There were two beds, and a table. A couple of drawers, and some clothes on one of the beds. Outside the bars was a corridor, with two burly Assassin guards pacing up and down beside it. And next to me on the floor was Baralai. Baralai, who seemed to be just waking up.

I moved towards him and hurriedly shook him. "Baralai!" I whispered. My voice was strained and croaky; tired. Slowly, he groaned, and his eyes opened. He didn't seem properly awake - his eyes stared into space; his mouth moved, but no words come out. "Baralai, wake up!" I whispered again. He was probably in the same state as I was, but wasn't as far awake as I was. "What is it, Baralai?" I asked, desperate for him to wake up.

"Nnnnnnnng…" a long, low moan came out of his lips. I paused, waiting for him to say more. His eyes slowly came into focus, but he was still not quite conscious. His hand moved and seized mine. He seemed afraid; almost disbelieving? I didn't know. His face had emotion on it, but I couldn't read it. My own eyes were still blurry. He tried to talk again, and the next time, a word finally came out.

"Paine…"

He was looking right at me, his eyes searching my face, but I was sure his eyes were still blurry. My breath caught in my throat. I almost panicked, thinking he had actually realised I was Paine. Quickly I filled in. "No, Praetor…I'm sorry. It's Ruby. Not Paine. Look, long hair."

I felt guilty telling him I was Ruby. The battle and the Assassins and the fights between the spherehunters…it was all too much to bear. The last thing I needed was to keep my real identity secret. But I needed to. Who knows what they'd do if they discovered I was Paine? Surely they know I exist…I do, after all, resemble the girl from the prophecy.

Baralai shook his head, and shortly his eyesight came into focus. He sat up, blinking. He seemed more in a daze; depressed. He didn't react to his surroundings, and just hugged his knees slightly, thinking.

"Praetor Baralai? Is something wrong?" I asked him.

Baralai sighed. "I thought - Uh…" he shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

I sighed, too. I wanted to help him. I wanted to tell him, _Paine's fine, she's doing great, she's right here in front of you, oh, and did I mention, she loves…_ I looked at Baralai. I didn't recall him ever being too handsome on first impressions, but to me then and now he's the most handsome person I know. His kind eyes, his sweet, floppy hair…they all are so familiar. They've appeared so many times in my dreams. But I was Ruby - and I couldn't let him love a lie. Even if there was some chance in this stupid, twisted world that he could ever return any feelings I had for him. I truly believed he couldn't return them, because I was too manly and too independent. Men loved women they could settle down with; I was a warrior, a traveller.

It's like a twisting in your gut. Your chest and stomach feel heavy yet your legs want to kick something so hard you break your toes and make you even angrier. One moment you're just standing there, forlorn; the next you're in a rage, snapping at whoever talks to you. The next, you're instantly sorry. The next you break down in tears and then you're back to being angry. You feel useless and torn. You know you should move on but are incapable to do so. It's the worst thing in the world. Worse than dying. It is dying. Inside you're either shrivelling up or being torn apart. You start slapping yourself to clear your head, only to succeed in hurting yourself more. You think you're going mad. You can't stand the sight of your love object, yet you have to be near them at all times. You just want to run for the hills, but you stay rooted to the spot. It's so confusing. You want to die. You just want it to stop. Everything's rushing around so fast you're having trouble clinging on. You can't focus; everything's strange and foggy; you're going round in circles. Every plan is as hopeless as the rest and you're spinning and spinning around until you feel like you're going to be sick…

"Where are we?" Baralai asks, looking up and around. "Is this a prison?"

I got up, though my legs felt like jelly. _The Assassin language is similar to Al Bhed, so perhaps I'll try speaking to the guard in Al Bhed?_ I went to the bars and called, nervously. "_Aqlica sa…Aqlica sa. Fa'ja zicd paah gethybbat, lyh oui damm ic frana fa yna?_" _Excuse me…Excuse me. We've just been kidnapped, can you tell us where we are? _Gosh, I sounded desperate.

The guard at the end of the corridor sniggered and replied in 'Sassin', as he called it. "_You're lucky I speak good Al Bhed. You insulted me very badly in Sassin. You're in Citadel, in one of the prison cells. You're to be kept here, because we don't want you running away. Otherwise, you'd be kept in the proper dormitories._"

I laughed slightly at his first bit. This Assassin seemed friendly enough. "_I'm glad I didn't insult you." _I said, in a language that was becoming very similar to Sassin. "_So…Citadel is on some island, huh?"_

_"Right."_

_"Dammit."_

_"Yup, no way of escape for you. Don't worry. If you're good, and you work well, you'll be fine. But you can never go back home now."_

_"We'll see about that."_

The guard laughed. _"They all start off feisty."_

_"This one's going to finish feisty."_

The guard laughed again.

"What's he saying, Ruby?" Baralai asked me, slowly getting up.

"We're in Citadel." I replied. "In a prison cell. They would have us in the proper dormitories, but they're scared we're going to attempt to run away."

"I have more sense than that." Baralai replied. He looked up and down the corridor, then back at me. "Do you have this strange…something, I don't know what to call it, but you can almost understand the language? I can pick up the odd word, the odd phrase, but not quite the whole language."

"Oh? I can understand every word of it." I raised my eyebrows, surprised. "But then, I can speak Al Bhed, and the formation of the languages are similar."

_"All Assassin, or people with Assassin lineage, have a basic understanding of the language. It's hereditary." _explained the guard.

_"You can understand Spiran?"_

_"Yes, but I don't like to speak it. I would recommend you talk to me in Al Bhed or Sassin, to practise your language skills. Very few people speak Spiran around here, though your instructors will. I only speak it because we get all sorts of prisoners here."_

_"Thanks for the advice. I'm-" _I shoot a quick look at Baralai. _"I'm…Ruby, and this is Praetor Baralai."_

_"I know. The kidnappers told me when they brought you in. I'm Broska."_

_"Nice to meet you, Broska."_

_"And you, Ruby."_

_"You're nicer than I expected."_

The guard smiled at me, coming closer to my cell. _"Not all Assassins are bloodthirsty killers. I trained as a guard - I only have to be brutal when dealing with bad prisoners."_

_"I hope you won't have to deal with me, then."_

_"You plan to be dealt with, then?"_

_"I don't plan to be dealt with. I plan to get away with it."_

Broska snorted.

I turned to Baralai. "Did you understand what he said?"

Baralai nodded.

I walked back into the cell, and looked around. I immediately went up to the window, and tried to reach it by jumping. I couldn't reach. I tried again, and again. I couldn't quite grab the edge and boost myself up. I looked around for anything I could use as a boost. There was only Baralai, watching. "Praetor, would you help me?" I asked, slightly nervously.

Baralai nodded. "Call me Baralai." he said, walking forward, kneeling down and taking one of my legs in a firm grip. Of course, it wasn't skin-to-skin touch, but it felt just as tingly. Trying to ignore the feeling, and the fact hat he could look up my skirt any time he wanted, I prepared to jump.

"1…2…3!" we said together, then I jumped, grabbed the windowsill and with Baralai boosting me up, looked out the window.

Outside, there was nothing. Well, there was something. There was a huge wall. Thick, tall and strong. I didn't know how long it had taken to build, but it wouldn't be destroyed again in a hurry. It went up into the sky, and I couldn't see the top because the top of the window was blocking the view. I couldn't see the ground, either. How high up were we? I tried to inch forward, to see more, became again momentarily aware that I was probably flashing my underwear to Baralai, but he would be decent enough not to look, then inched even further forward, trying to…

The cell bars swung open. I turned around quickly and jumped off Baralai's knee. He also stood up quickly. For a chill had already seized us, as if we already knew who was coming in the room. We both glared at the new arrival. We both hated him.

Anansi smirked at us, walking forward a bit with a regal, apathetic posture, then standing. "So here we have our prime prisoners. A useless, mourning Praetor and a deceiving girl."

I shot him a warning look. "Shut. Up." I growled through gritted teeth.

"Come now, Ruby, I wouldn't be so nice as to let Baralai in on your little secret myself. No. You can have the torture of bearing it for as long as you can." Anansi sneered with pleasure. "You have already guessed, however, why you might be here."

"I'm a half-blood, as you put it."

"Correct. Took you a while to guess, though. Almost took you a lifetime to accept it, but you've grown used to accepting things recently." Anansi rolled his eyes mockingly. He was annoying me more by the second. Every word he spoke ground me down, made me feel worse. He turned to Baralai. "And you are a pureblood, though you may not have guessed it. Not the greatest example of an Assassin, but regretfully, a pureblood."

"Leave him alone!" I said, with a surprising anger in my voice. "He's done nothing to you. It's me who you supposedly need to deal with, resembling that girl you all fear. Leave him alone and pick on me."

"All right then. I will." Anansi looked incredibly pleased. Had it been anyone other than Anansi, I would have known it to be an empty threat. But with Anansi, I wasn't so sure…"Well." he continued. "I know about you," he said, gesturing to me, "But what about you…" he said turning to Baralai. Baralai yelled and was forced down to the ground by some invisible force. A moment later, he was released. "Yep." Anansi said to himself. He turned and swept out of the cell, his long cloak billowing behind him. He obviously wasn't about to share the information he'd just learned, though no doubt he'd use it to his advantage.. The bars crossed to a close behind him. "You will begin training tomorrow. Don't expect to last long." Anansi shot us one more sneer, then left.


	11. Adenar

The Warriors: Adenar

Training commenced the next day. We had a timetable for the week, which had to be adhered to under pain of…some horrible punishment or another. The lessons included Mind Control (for self and opponent), History (of the Assassins, a very bleak one, too), Combat (My kind of thing), Acting (in case we needed to act our way into someone's confidence), Music (because Anansi loved it - you wouldn't have guessed, would you?), Horse Riding (because _everyone_ had to have a horse, and ride it. Yup, everyone) and Stealth & Assassination (An essential Assassin skill). Music and Drama were all right, though Drama was more about self-control and deception than actual acting for fun. Combat was the most rigorous training I had ever had, and all the students who were strong before, like me, became almost like bodybuilders or boxers, and it was only half enjoyable. Mind Control I settled into easily, but some of the things they did went beyond anyone's control and it was more of a torture period than a lesson. History was plain boring, even worse than if Maechen had been teaching it. Stealth & Assassination was hard work, and the instructor never had anything good to say about you.

However, it was Horse Riding that I surprisingly found the most enjoyment, even though I'm much more of a chocobo person. I had just completed my first utterly boring and exhausting day of training when we went to the stables, where we were all to be assigned our horse. It would be the only Horse Riding lesson Anansi would sit in on – he hated horses, and only had minor respect for his unicorn. He would assign us our horses, and I just _knew_ he was going to assign me either some stubborn idiot who wouldn't move or the worst-tempered horse in the stables.

He was sitting on the fence to a rectangular pen. There were several horses inside - I guessed there were sixteen, as there were sixteen people with at least a little Assassin blood and abilities yet of mixed ages in our group. Quite a lot of them were young teens. Baralai and me were some of the eldest - there was also two girls older than us and a boy who was about eight. He was having a lot of trouble with the training, but received a lot of support from us. Training was so that we could supposedly fight for the Assassins - not if I had anything to do with it. Still, I went with the training. Could always fool them.

Anansi surveyed us with his harsh hazel eyes, a rare deviation in the Assassins from the normal brown colour. Hazel eyes are part green, part brown, and his were mainly green. A sharp green, a piercing green. His features were sharp, and his hair was long and silvery, framing his sharp features and elongating them. He was almost elf-like, with an evil air. His fingers were long, and his nails uncut and ragged. Vampiric. That's a better word to describe it. Give him a long cloak and fangs, and he would be the perfect vampire. It's funny - Baralai and Anansi are from the same race of people, and they all have the same eyes, yet they're so different. Baralai's are kind, calm - they put you at ease and always seem to smile. Anansi's are harsh and cold, shallow and evil.

The horses weren't all put in a line - there were all wandering around together. There was a temporary rope down the centre. They did it with chocobos - I guessed it was to separate the males from the females.

A man approached us. He was tall, muscular, and surprisingly young. He had very masculine features and was about our age. I heard quite a few of the sixteen and seventeen-year-old girls giggle. I rolled my eyes. He definitely had a kinder air about him than Anansi, or any of our other teachers. But he also held a stern face, and a forceful stride. Just like all the other teachers. "Everyone, into the ring." He said, opening the gate for us. _Ring? It's rectangular. _I felt like pointing out, but I walked into the ring obediently. Until I discovered anything about this lesson, I would have to remain quiet and learn. We stood in our alphabetical line, to attention, like soldiers, like we had to in every lesson. My name was supposedly 'Ruby Leises White', so I was still at the end, even if they had thought of me as 'Paine Zonarm Zill'. Our teacher paced up and down the line. "I've seen worse." he muttered, then turned to Anansi. "Don't expect miracles with this lot."

Anansi sneered, satisfied. "I didn't expect any from the start." he glared at me, then at Hang (the eight-year-old) then jumped off the fence and strode towards us. At a telepathic command, horses trotted over one by one and Anansi assigned them to people. I think he's been trying to annoy me by being really nice to Baralai and not to me, because Baralai got a really sweet stallion (male horse, apparently) who he called Pippin. He was a pretty thing, with a chocolate-covered body and a little stripe of white down his face and a black mane. A bay horse, I think it was called. He instantly bonded with Baralai - such a trusting horse.

I had made a new friend during training, a pretty little thing named Belkose Niar. She was sixteen, but she had sense, thankfully. She hadn't giggled when the riding instructor arrived. Even more infuriatingly, she was given a pretty black mare with a white mane, and she called her Berry. She was also really nice - we may have been having a hard time, but the horses must have been treated really well!

Of course, Anansi lived up to my expectations. By the time he came to me, there was only one horse left. She was pure black, solid, darkest black. She was one of the shorter horses, but it didn't make her stumpy and anyway, all the horses were pretty daunting to us newbies. There wasn't a speck of another colour on her coat. She was sturdily built, with intelligent eyes and good legs. There was nothing of the angry element in her, no fury and no stubbornness. I hear the Assassins often speak of their horses gaining a sort of fury, suddenly becoming stubborn. But I could see past it with this mare.

She was not angry and neither was she violent. She _was, _however, proud. She was proud, and knew she was the lead mare. She had status, and carried herself that way.

_But - _she was scared. She had stayed away from us humans from the moment we arrived in the ring, and Anansi especially seemed to hold fear for her, unsurprisingly. She obeyed his command reluctantly and slowly, but Anansi seemed tired with her and did not complain. She then looked at me. Flinching back, she held her head high and her tail clamped down. I was already becoming acquainted with the horses' body language.

Anansi gave me a sneer. Then, he leapt over the gate and walked off.

The poor mare's mane was tangled and matted, and there was mud on her coat. I supposed no one had been able to get close to her to be able to clean her. I knew nothing about conformation, so I couldn't really comment, but I liked it. But she looked strong, with sturdy limbs and a…oh, I don't know how to explain it. I just liked the way she looked. With her wild mane and sturdy yet refined body. She was beautiful, I could see past the mud and the shagginess and the thinness. I knew she had promise.

If only I could get her to trust me! Every time I tried to get closer to her, she just backed up into a corner and then reared and bucked so that I moved and she could get out. She ran around and around the arena, and I could hardly catch her. Then she slowed down, and the process began again. It was really quite useless. Everyone else was having a great time with their horses. Even Hang, who was given an impossibly tall and bad-tempered horse, was having fun. Well, he _did _get a lot of sympathy and support…

At the end of the completely useless and disappointing session – well, for me, anyway – our teacher, Drak, called us all together. As we all got into a line and he surveyed us with intimidating glances and stares, he suddenly broke into a smile.

"Now that Anansi's well and truly out of these lessons, I hope we can begin to get on well." Drak said, while we all gaped. All our teachers were cruel, and trained to be so. Why was young Mr Drak suddenly so nice?

"It may surprise you that I'm actually trying to get on good terms with you." Drak continued, as if able to read our thoughts – he probably had. "I myself am a Spiran - though Assassin bred - and I know exactly what boat you're in."

We all sighed with relief.

"If you leave your horses here and your horse's name with me, I'll have the stable-hands take your horses to their stables." he smiled. "We can learn about stable care later."

I was, naturally, the last in line. As I stepped forward to Drak, he smiled. "Ah, Miss White." then he leant forward and whispered in my ear. "You didn't check for mind intruders once in that whole lesson. I would check regularly, or others might discover your little…secret. _Paine_." he winked, then spoke normally again while I felt like slapping myself. "Name of horse?"

"Umm…" I had to confess, I hadn't been able to find a suitable name for the mare. "Er, Midnight?"

"Done before _so_ many times."

"Spirit?"

"My horse."

"Fire."

"Typical."

I racked my head for ideas.

"Lazonna." It was a Sassin name.

"Kose bagged that one."

"Why can't we name them more than once?"

"The less able riders might get their horses confused with others."

"Er. Yuna?" Don't ask.

"Anansi would probably get rid of your lovely horse."

Then it finally came to me.

"Adenar."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Baralai give me a weird look. He obviously remembered it was Paine's mother's name. Drak looked around, caught Baralai's look, then gave me an inconspicuous wink.

"Yes, Adenar. That suits her."

Drak nodded slowly, on purpose. _I understand, _he told me, and wrote it down.

His last words to us as we left? "Just a little advice for when you're handling your horses." his head was looking at the ground, utterly serious. He looked at us, pleading us to listen and take him seriously. We were all ears. "Horses are wonderful creatures, but develop strong yet delicate relationships. Horses first knew man as the hunted knows the hunter, for our ancestors saw the horse and first thought of it as an abundant supply of meat, hide and bone. Only when a woman, named 'Ideis' in all the old legends, tamed a horse for its friendship, did they realise how useful horses were as steeds and companions. From the many years it has spent with humans it has become easier to tame and an easy friend to bond with, but this frail bond is just as easily broken, and the old wilderness forever dwells in its heart. And don't forget the legend."

He looked at me. Was this man a source of all knowledge? Yes, I resembled the woman from the prophecy. It didn't mean anything. I had no companion who loved me, for I was Ruby, the lie. I was no Saviour.

"A great tyrant shall come to rule our great city. With him shall come a reign of terror and war. Our people shall be exposed and revealed to the other races of the world. Our steeds shall be our solace." he nodded. "The age of the tyrant has come. The reign of terror and war is upon us. Anansi has taken us and revealed us to the Spirans and Al Bhed. For now, we must take solace in our steeds. For they, truly, are forever faithful."

**[In the room]**

"Ruby…"

"Yes, Praetor?"

"_Please_ call me Baralai."

We were back in our room, just getting into our beds for the night. It was always an awkward time, and I'm sure you can guess why. I think there was one incident where Baralai nearly saw me half-naked but I'm sure he didn't. He had merely dropped his top, and bent down to get it. And no, I didn't peek. I'd already seen him topless in the Crimson Squad. Although, I had to admit a slight curiosity in the girly side I had recently discovered to be a bit too potent.

"Ruby, why did you call your horse Adenar?"

Ah. "Why do you ask?" I tried to stall as much as possible.

"Just…curious." he quickly said. But I knew why he was asking.

"I just thought…it suited her." I shrugged. We were changing, so we had our backs to each other, and thankfully he couldn't see the awkward look on my face. I was getting so sick of lying. "I don't know where I heard it, though." I managed to lie.

Baralai sighed. "Oh." I heard him sigh, but then thankfully he changed the subject. "What's your group playing at the prom?"

It was our Music project - everyone was to perform at the 'enrolment prom'.

"Oh…Angels or Bring me To Life, I think. Maybe something else, Angels is a struggle." One, I would sing as an act of defiance against Anansi, a warning to him that he couldn't control me, but I'd have to change it a couple of _octaves_, even; damn sopranos. The other would be sang if I could get Baralai to do the man's part. "If I did Bring Me To Life…would you do the man's part?"

"I couldn't…"

"I know you're shy about singing in front of loads of people, but it's mostly shouting or shouty-singing."

"Oh, well that's ok then. I will."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Pulling my shirt over my torso, I was finally changed. "You changed?"

"Ages ago, slowpoke." he teased.

"Hey, you don't have this bloody dressphere to remove."

"You could just take the dressphere off."

"I'd be stark naked!"

"Exactly, my point."

"Pervert!"

"I didn't mean it that way!" we turned around to face each other. Baralai's face was flushed, embarrassed. "I meant, you could change quicker!"

"I've got those guards patrolling up and down outside. You may be fine with other guys seeing your man-things, but I'm not ok with them staring at my chest."

Don't laugh. I don't like talking about body parts. I'm not so bad with the word 'arse' but otherwise I'm awkward.

"Fair enough." Baralai shrugged, giving me a 'whatever' look. A moment later, we both fell apart laughing, hardly able to breathe in our silent giggles.

No, there was no real reason behind it. And yes, I guess we were slightly mad. But in that place, just a few moments of laughter were enough to keep you alive, let alone out of depression. We laughed silently for a while - if the guards had heard they would have shut us up - then went to bed, smiling.

"Night, Ruby."

"Night, Baralai."

There was silence for a moment as Baralai blew out the candle.

"Ruby?"

"Hmm?"

"Call me Lai."

"Only if you call me Roo."

Baralai sniggered.

"I was joking." I quickly said. I was _not_ letting him call me Roo.

"Ok, _Roo_."

"Lai-Lai."

"Bee."

"Barry."

"Okay, now _that's_ enough."

I smiled, though he couldn't see it. "Goodnight, Lai."

Again, silence. "She used to call me that…" Baralai muttered, so softly I almost couldn't hear it.

My heart skipped a beat. Was he talking about me?

"Who, Paine?" I asked, gently.

"It doesn't matter. Goodnight, Ruby."

I sighed.

"Goodnight."

* * *

**DragonGirl323: **Yeah, though it took about a year. There is suspense? That's good news. I'm not totally useless after my year's break, then. Though I am slightly saner, in the insane way. Mwahaha…

**Kurissyma San Tybalt (Bex): **Yeah, poor Dr P has some tough choices to make. Will the tension get too much? Will she be able to cope? All I can say is, something extremely bad will happen. Well, many bad things will happen. I'm not even sure if I should give this a happy ending any more! This story's way out of control - though it is sticking basically to the plot. Even if I've had to turn this chapter into two. There's too much in this one. Get ready to pity Paine even more!

**The Coldsteel Pen (who is not Lucy but is Hannah): **Well, that makes two of my real life friends to actually show an interest in what I do outside of school! Apart from Jen, but she's more interested in how much her horses are more expensive and 'better bred' than the ones I ride…anyway, thanks for reviewing, it makes me feel good when someone I know shows an interest. You may call me Frizz-Buff, but ONLY ONLY ONLY EVER on Fandom. Ok? Otherwise you shall be…frizzified. Ideas? Well…if you search around Fandom at the different topics available, I'm sure you'll find one. For instance, the Heartland section where I write fics had about eight stories when I started writing mine. Perhaps you also have another favourite book (apart from the dreaded HP), or maybe a favourite movie?


	12. Nothing Can Go Wrong

The Warriors: Nothing Can Go Wrong

It was a long, long four months. All the news that came of Spira was abysmal - Bevelle had not been conquered, but they had gone round all the other places first, burning buildings, killing, ransacking Spira of all its treasures. Anansi had returned to the war, and it was rumoured he had taken two Spiran wives. It seemed that in Assassin culture, it was normal for leaders to take more than one wife. Rumours were rife, though. One rumour going round claimed that he was going to take Yuna as his wife when he conquered Bevelle. If he conquered Bevelle, that was. I found out that they were only waiting to take Bevelle because they wanted the Spiran recruits to do it. Until then, the city was cordoned off. Minimal food supplies were allowed in. Crime took a sharp rise. I was almost glad to be in Citadel with the Assassins - at least we were provided for, and the only crimes present were that of the tutors to their students.

By the time the four months began to come to a close, I was a tough, stocky warrior of the highest class, and I knew even Diamond would find me a tough match now. We had been moved from a prison cell to a proper dorm on account of good behaviour - that meant no more dodgy changing sessions. Drama was no longer a chore - we had developed our skills, and were finally allowed to work on a musical for the end of term. I wasn't the lead, naturally. I'm never the leading lady, in any aspect of life. But I was a pretty kick-ass supporting actress. History was boring, but it wasn't to be examined on so we never bothered to learn anything. We could overpower our teacher anyway, and he never ratted on us. Music was coming along fine - we all either had our own piece to perform, other pieces to help out on, or both. In my case, both.

Mind Control, however, was the interesting one. After our first day, it became pretty clear that I was developing faster than anyone in the class, anyone in any group, and anyone our teacher had ever seen. Within the first week I was dominating over a man three times my age. Within the first month I was equal to and better than my teacher. I was almost immediately sent to the leaders of the Assassins for examination and better teaching. They didn't know what to make of me, but were delighted to find one so raw and inexperienced who was almost the equal of themselves. I had a good time with them, found lots of challenges, and when they sent me back to my class for the last assessment, I missed them greatly and found the lessons with my class extremely boring.

Horse Riding was the only lesson I always found solace in. It was true, Adenar was taking a long time to sort out, probably due to my inexperience, but it was the only time we were able to hang around as more than friends, but as a family. We shared secrets, we shared dreams. I learnt that Drak had been taken from Spira three years ago, and only recently became the Director of Learning for Horse Riding. He was, in fact, just seventeen, and soon all the girls were envious because they simply _knew_ and could not deny Drak and my friend, Belkose's - or Kose's - affection for each other. We often just sat on a field fence and talked. I drew closer to Kose, and learnt a few basics of riding thanks to people taking me round on their own horse. I couldn't use my mind to help Adenar - horses speak body language, not words. Sure, I was a mental genius, but again my inexperience came into play and I was stumped as to finding a way to mentally translate body language. But we were getting somewhere.

The first moment she didn't run away sent my spirits flying.

The first time I stroked her was magical.

The first time I rode her was a complete disaster!

I'm not entirely sure what happened. I probably rushed her. All I knew was that I was so excited, I literally jumped onto her back. The next moment she was bucking and rearing and I was on the floor six feet away, massaging a bruised butt and a dented ego. Almost the whole class was watching from the fence. Baralai and Kose seemed a little worried that I was hurt, but they were laughing their heads off just like the rest.

But what's the first thing you do when you fall off a horse? You get straight back on. This time I took it slower. I took her outside of the stables, away from everyone else, off to the free fields inside the high city walls. And I didn't vault on, I took her to the fence and used it as a boost. I didn't use a saddle, which was quite daring of me, and there was no bridle. First, I pressed gently on her back to make sure that she was fine with it. She pranced a bit, but settled into it. She trusted me. I trusted her. I swung a cautious leg over, but I was too far to come back now. I eased myself gently onto her back, then just sat there for a while. She was a bit stiff and tense, not sure how I was going to act, but then she relaxed into it. Not sure what to do, I put my heels lightly to her side.

And she bolted off with me. Again. Though this time, judging by the ways my knees suffered, I managed to cling on well enough.

By the time the four months were over, I was as toughened a warrior as anyone thrice my age, my mind was out of the control of anyone except me, you couldn't tell when I was acting from when I was myself, my music was out of this world and Adenar was my pride and joy. It may have been hell sometimes, and a rocky ride of a journey, but I was content.

Kose and me were as thick as thieves.

Adenar and I loved each other beyond reason, and she trusted no one else.

I knew everything would be fine at the prom.

I was resolved to tell Baralai I was Paine at the prom.

Even better, I was beginning to get the idea that Baralai may well like me - Paine - more than just a friend. It was a small sliver of hope, but it was there.

Everything was happy.

I had friends and I had a future.

I had a love, possibly returned to my true identity.

Nothing could have ruined my happiness. Not even if Anansi waltzed in with a death sentence for me.

* * *

Two days before the end of training I was lying on my bed, listening to music. The music library there was vast and endless, and I had more than my fair share of music to hear. I was currently into a Gothic band, typical of me, but their music was out of this world. Certain tracks, like 'Angels' and 'Mother Earth' were my favourites, while, just like any band, they had their downs. I didn't particularly enjoy their earlier sound, but that was it. Belkose was singing 'Angels' at the prom. I might have sung it, if I could only reach the high notes. As it was, ended up putting myself and Baralai's names down for 'Bring Me To Life'.

But I wasn't listening to either of them. I was listening to some quite happy, lively music about some random dance or other. I didn't hear the door open, but I felt someone attempt to enter my mind. "Baralai…" I muttered, smirking. I got off my bed, turned off the music player and walked out of my room.

I stopped dead.

"Why hello, Paine." the annoying drawl reached my ears, as a fake smile creeped up his lips. "You look so happy to see me!"

You know who it was, don't you.

"When did _you_ get back?" I asked, giving him a disdainful look.

Anansi gave me a mock mournful look. "Now, now, Paine. Is that any way to treat your leader?"

"What do you want?"

"Just to say hello to my favourite toy." Anansi waved his hand in a mocking way. "Or rather, to break my favourite toy."

"I'm too happy at the moment, Anansi." I replied, cheekily. "I'm afraid you'll have to come back another day. I'm in no mood to be broken."

"Oh, isn't that a shame?" he shrugged. "I'll be back in four days, then. One of you will still be alive for me to play with." he walked to the door agonisingly slowly, before I stopped him halfway.

"Are you trying to kill us now?" I scoffed, disapprovingly. "You never run out of ideas, do you?" I sighed, sarcastically.

"Oh no, I'm not trying to kill you." Anansi's voice was sickly sweet, pleasure dripping from every syllable. "I'm _so_ going to enjoy watching you kill each other."

I snorted. "Like you'd ever make us do that."

"I won't _make_ you." Anansi laughed, as if it was obvious. "You don't _have_ to do it. But one of you will die, even if you don't fight. We'll probably kill Baralai, he's the least valuable."

A hint of anger bubbled in my stomach.

"To think, you'd be letting down yet another person."

More than a hint now.

"How many people is that, now? The Gullwings. Leaving them to their depression, how heartless! The Crimson Squad. Were you able to save them? No. Just the recorder. The failure. The weakling. Leaving them to run away and save themselves, standing helpless as one of your own shot the others. Ah!" he breathed, as if having an epiphany. "Your parents…yes, your parents!" he pronounced the word slowly, purposefully, mockery dripping from every single syllable. "Leaving them to die. How could you, how could you?" he spoke casually, scornfully. He began to shake his head, tutting. "Should have been stronger, Paine. Should have been stronger."

"I couldn't reach them." I growled, through gritted teeth. "I was trapped."

"You can lie to yourself. You can lie to me. But we'll both always know the truth." His voice was high, and slightly quicker now. He leant forward and whispered in my ear. "_You…let…them…die…"_

"Get away from me!"

"You know you did."

"I didn't…I wouldn't…I couldn't…" I stood up to him, but my heart was racing. _I did let them down. I let them die._

"You watched them from behind the door, but what did you do? You didn't help. You didn't go to them. Because you were weak. Weak, and stupid. You watched, heartlessly-"

"I loved them!"

"-as those men simply strolled in and murdered them. They called to you, didn't they? They told you to run. But you should have helped. Oh, but of course. You were too weak to help. You were never good for anything!"

"I was! My father loved me!"

_Never strong enough. Never good enough. Never the tame, lovely daughter they wanted._

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I was crying. _Why am I crying! I'm so weak! I can't even take this…this is all behind me! I didn't let them down! I was too weak…Shut up! I'm so weak, I'm crying…I mustn't cry, I'm the tough one. Why am I crying! I hate it!_

Anansi pushed me. I didn't resist. My body was limp as I cried. I fell to the ground, sitting down, hugging my knees. He knelt down immediately to my level, his head coming so close to mine. His eyes glinted with malevolence, with pleasure, with disgust, with delight. He grabbed my throat, and raised me up. Slowly, until I was standing. He wasn't quite choking me, just holding me in a standing position. Then he carried on lifting, and then I started choking.

I fought him. Oh, I fought so hard! But all the fight was gone from me. I didn't want to fight. I was useless, I was weak and I was pathetic. In that instant, all my memories came flooding back. My parent's cries for me as they died. Yuna and Rikku's depression. The orphanage. Being homeless. Not good enough to be a warrior, I was the recorder. I was always useless, so useless. Wretched, stupid, half-blood. That's all I was. Baralai's pleas for me to stand down in the Underground…

Anansi lifted me up higher, and I began to choke. I wanted to cry out, to beg him to stop, but I couldn't. All I could do was struggle weakly. All I could see were his mad eyes, his glinting eyes, boring into my own. I was being choked by memories. I was being choked by Anansi. I was stupid. _I should have died long ago…_

Grabbing my throat savagely, the pain tore down my windpipe and into my brain as he clenched my throat in an inhuman grip, preparing, then tossing me across the room like a baby. I hit the wall, then the bed post, then the floor. I tasted blood, and I felt bruises creep up my back. My head was throbbing. I was blinded by tears. I vaguely saw him rush towards me, kicking out, punching. I couldn't fight back. _Why can't I fight back! I want to fight back! I need to fight back! I'm so useless, I can't do anything at all!_ All I could feel was pain, and hopelessness. Again and again Anansi lashed at me, driving kicks and punches at me, shouting at my mind, pain everywhere!

"Stop it! Please! Make it stop!" I finally managed to shout, sobs choking my words.

Anansi sneered. For a moment there was calm. And for the first time in so long, I felt true fear, liquid fear, flood through me. For the first time in so long, I was truly upset and miserable. Nothing could have ruined my happiness. Not even if Anansi waltzed in with a death sentence for me.

But he waltzed in with something much worse - memories.

"As you wish."

Then his fist collided with my head. Pain fired through my brain; down my body. Then nothing.

Nothing.

Just my pathetic existence.

All I could feel was the darkness…

I was to kill Baralai, or they would.

I wanted to die.

How did I begin to wake up? I didn't. I merely became conscious, but I was still sleeping. Still dead to the world. Is this what depression feels like? Is this what it feels like to drown in your sorrows? When you need to come up for air, but don't want to and you can't, anyway. Is this what suicide feels like? Is this what it feels like to die of your own misery? When there's nothing left; no-one you can count on; everything's gone. I feel so alone. Forsaken. Abandoned. I don't exist, anyway. I'm Ruby. I'm the lie, living for Paine so she can hide.

A soft song falls from my lips. I sing to comfort myself - but only succeed in creating more sorrows.

_"Playground school bell rings again…rainclouds come to play again…has no one told you she's not breathing? Hello, I'm your mind, giving you someone to talk to…Hello…"_

I was breathing, but it was a shallow breathing, hardly keeping me alive. And I was singing to myself. Was I going mad? Probably. Depression brings that sort of thing onto you. I had never suffered it before, but everything, everything that should have brought it onto me, had been harshly brought back by Anansi.

_"If I smile and don't believe, soon I know I'll wake from this dream. Don't try to fix me - I'm not broken! Hello, I'm the lie, living for you so you can hide…don't cry…"_

Almost laughing at the irony of my words, my sobs grew louder as I began to try and drag myself out of the slumber of my Anansi-brought depression. I just wanted to give up - to stop breathing. There was no will to survive left in me. I was just a puppet, a mask. I was never 'tough'. It was just a pretence.

_"Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping! Hello, I'm still here…All that's left of yesterday…"_

I was all that was left of so many great things. Of my parents. So strong, so beautiful, so kind. Always helpful. They would have given their lives for me. They would have died. They did - but not for me. They died because of me. Because I didn't save them. Because I was too weak, too scared to save them. Of the Crimson Squad. I was just the recorder. How many times did I fight for them? Hardly ever. Hardly at all. I was too weak. I was just the girl, the silly recorder. The one nobody needed. Why did they want recorders, anyway? I probably wouldn't have even been in the Squad if they hadn't want to document it. Gippal, Nooj and Baralai especially were the men who survived. They were the heroes. They were the loved ones. Me? I was just the recorder. Not worth the dirt beneath their feet. Who was I to think Baralai might love me to? Who was I to think I might have had a chance? Fool. Idiot. Pathetic.

There is darkness, only darkness. A never-ending spiral of gloom and blackness. Will it haunt me forever?


	13. I Will Always Return

I was all that was left of so many great things. Of my parents. So strong, so beautiful, so kind. Always helpful. They would have given their lives for me. They would have died. They did - but not for me. They died because of me. Because I didn't save them. Because I was too weak, too scared to save them. Of the Crimson Squad. I was just the recorder. How many times did I fight for them? Hardly ever. Hardly at all. I was too weak. I was just the girl, the silly recorder. The one nobody needed. Why did they want recorders, anyway? I probably wouldn't have even been in the Squad if they hadn't want to document it. Gippal, Nooj and Baralai especially were the men who survived. They were the heroes. They were the loved ones. Me? I was just the recorder. Not worth the dirt beneath their feet. Who was I to think Baralai might love me to? Who was I to think I might have had a chance? Fool. Idiot. Pathetic.

* * *

There is darkness, only darkness. A never-ending spiral of gloom and blackness. Will it haunt me forever?

_But…is that a shimmer of light I see through the gloom? Can I see a star in the night? Can I hear one sweet song through the shouting of a thousand memories? After all the hurt and anger, a soft touch on my hand? A gentle finger wipes away my tears. A precious melody floats from them. A long, silver river flows off a head of snow-white skin. Scarlet eyes gaze kindly into my own, of matching colour but weakened so by Anansi. A warmth seems to radiate off her long, white robes as she gently sings her songs to me._

_It's a melody I knew long ago, a melody I vowed never to sing again. Never to tell anyone about. It was our song, a song between us two, just for us. I open my eyes fully and look at her. My face is the picture of fear - a child's face again. I'm shrinking, going back to my child self. This light all around us, a protective figure behind me, also cradling. I'm so young, so fearful._

"I hear the wind call your name, the sound that leads me home again. It sparks up the fire - a flame that still burns. To you I'll always return. I know the road is long, but where you are is home. Wherever you stay, I'll find a way.

"I'll run like a river - I'll follow the sun…"

_The tears are slowly stopping. Her arms are comforting, oh so familiar. How many nights I sat in my bed while she read me stories about princesses and warrior maidens. I always hated the princess ones - but I loved the ones about warrior maidens. We even made up our own. My favourite was about a young girl named Paine, who went forth, saved Spira, and met a man who appreciated her for who she was._

_Do I now feel myself joining the song? Like I did with the stories, so long ago, in the happy time. Though we can never know every step, we learn to join the dance. My own voice joined hers just as the other figure's did - so familiar, so strong…_

"I'll fly like an eagle - to where I belong…"

_The song lifts my heart and my voice, but the next bit always makes me cry because I know it will never come true. No matter how hard I try, they can never come back._

"I can't stand the distance - I can't dream alone - I can't wait to see you - Yes I'm on my way home!

"Now I know it's true, my every road leads to you and in the hour of darkness, your light gets me through!"

_Another voice joins our own. It doesn't know the words, but it hums along. I heard it calling to me a while ago, but I didn't want to leave the world of light. I was too afraid I would be dragged back to darkness. But as I hear the voice, I recognise it also. It cannot be here because it was never a part of the people I am with now - but it is a big part of me._

"You run like a river - you shine like the sun, you fly like an eagle, you are the one!

"I've seen every sunset and with all that I've learned -

"Is to you I will always, always return…"

_As I gaze into the eyes of my mother for the last time, I again see her beautiful, radiant smile. She hugs me, and I hold her tight. From the back of me comes my father, cradling me in his embrace as I come back from child to fully grown woman. And just as my room faded into view, I heard her soft words in my ear, a voice that almost brought me to tears again, I had longed to hear it for so long. "Ruby is more than just a mask, isn't she? She's becoming you. Please. Please, stop being her before she destroys you. Before she destroys my daughter."_

_I nodded my head._

"Ruby."

_"He's calling you, Paine."_

"Ruby, please wake up!"

"_It's not all lost, Paine. Tell him who you are. Tell him you love him."_

_I can tell him who I am. But not that._

_"Do it. I love you, Paine." I love you too! Don't go!_

_But it all fades. The light becomes my room, sunlight flooding in through the window. My mother slowly fades into Baralai as my eyes open. My father turns into Kose, propping me up._

_Mother?_

_Mum…_

* * *

It was a few minutes later, and I was finally recovering from my sobs. The look on Kose's face was almost enough to lift my spirits, as the shock of seeing me cry was enough to confuse her greatly.

I'd walked a little way away, and I was facing the wall. I knew it was the moment. I wasn't going to be able to back out of it now. I hadn't even taken the plunge, but I was well and truly in deep water. Taking deep breaths, I considered what to do. It clicked. Even though I _was_ Paine, I looked like Ruby. Two different people, two different looks, two different faces. I needed to go back to my old self. Striding confidently to my bed and taking out my sword, Baralai and Kose watched in shock as I began to cut off my hair. Leaving it short as it was before, I left just a few long hairs framing my face. I was myself, but improved. I quickly checked my spheregrid. To activate a dressphere, you need a spheregrid. I quickly put it on, and morphed into Shark. Looking at Baralai, I knew he'd already twigged. He's not dumb. But I still spoke, anyway.

"There's a lot of things I'm going to have to explain. But in the past half an hour I've had to face up to a lot of things - mainly my past. And it's time I face it by myself, without that bastard Anansi coming in and forcing it upon me." I bowed my head. "Baralai, please, _please_ don't be angry with me. Maybe, someday, when I have a bit of emotional courage, I'll be able to give you the story.. But now I know what I have to do."

"Ruby-" Baralai began, but I cut in.

"Don't start. You've known all along, haven't you? Always that sneaking suspicion at the back of your mind."

Baralai shook his head. He knew, but didn't want to believe. For fear or joy, I didn't know.

"You know who I am. My name isn't Ruby, is it?"

I'd reduced him to tears. Within the space of a few short moments, I had reduced Baralai to tears. How important had that sentence been to him? Shaking his head, his lip quivering, he stammered in a whisper. "Paine…"

I changed into Warrior.


	14. Calm

**For those of you whose stories I read regularly, sorry I've stopped reviewing. I think I'm going to concentrate on finishing my stories, then see if I want to stay on Fandom afterwards. It's been a great time, but even magical things must come to an end. Not sure how magical I was, but still…**

**And as for my own reviewers. Even if your reviews were very short, they were all really confidence-boosting and let me continue with the fic. Some more constructive criticism would be nice, though! I think it's an awkward time to reply to reviews, so I'll mention everyone who's reviewed so far. ****Angel Taisha, BlueGirl90, The Cold Steel Pen, Deathseeker14, DragonGirl323, Ecliptic Warrior, IcedBlaze, JaimeKei, xJessiebelle, kitty-moogles, KatoriTsubasa, Kurissyma San Tybalt, -LifeSucksAss- LivesForFantasy, Morpheanne, Paine Sawyer, Paine3, Painestwin, Rita Goral, Sdreamz, theweirdperson, Tzu Con**

**I have to warn you, these next couple of chapters aren't particularly good. They've really been sapping at my muse, so I hope they came out vaguely decent. I checked through the rest of the story and made some improvements, too, so hopefully you new readers encountered something far more polished. This one's short, but I'll publish the next one simultaneously.**

The Warriors: Calm

Even the next day, Kose was hardly getting over it. Shock, surprise, awe? I don't know what it was that had her still looking at me with disbelief and unable to talk to me. I was hardly as famous as Yuna and Rikku; it didn't really make sense. All I knew was, Baralai and Kose were willing to keep me a secret until the concert. And an unspoken part of that agreement seemed that they weren't going to talk to me. But Kose and I were sitting alone together, in the paddock, the afternoon before the concert. We were watching the sun set behind the huge wall that surrounded Citadel, the most massive wall we had ever seen. Suddenly, Kose spoke more words to me than she had since she found I was Paine.

"You like Baralai, don't you?"

Five simple words. In fact, four simple words. Four simple words, stated as simple fact more than question, started the discussion I had wanted to have for so long.

"I do." I admit, I was nervous at the conversation. But to Kose, I could confide everything. I knew that now, more than ever. A tug pulled at the corners of my lips.

"I thought so. For how long?"

"A long time."

"Mmm." Kose nodded wisely, not teasing me or giggling. She knew better than to do that when I was around.

"You like Drak, don't you?"

It was Kose's turn to smile. "Yeah…"

I punched her lightly on the shoulder. That's what friends do, right? "He's a good choice."

"Leave off, he's mine." Kose joked. The punch on the shoulder had obviously told her I was feeling open today.

I rolled my eyes, only half-joking. "Don't worry, I've got _Baralai_ to worry about."

Kose laughed out loud. "Worry about! He obviously likes you too."

"Just because you understand men and I don't doesn't mean you have to lead me astray."

"I'm not!"

"I refuse to believe you. Though Drak definitely likes you."

"Now _you're _the one joking."

We teased each other for a while, finally breaking down the barriers between us. The sun slowly set, and the horses played in the meadow nearby. Every second that passed brought the party closer, but we still felt relaxed. The horses seemed calm and an occasional bird drifted lazily across the pale aqua sky. The shadows grew longer as the warm summer air made us all feel drowsy. In the end, Kose and I lay on the ground for a while and just lazed around in the glow of the setting sun.

It was probably the only rest we were going to get for some hours.


	15. Last Night of Our Lives

The Warriors: Last Night of Our Lives

"Hello, new graduates and welcome to your prom!" the Spiran on the stage called, with excitement in his voice, getting the crowd going. He laughed at a few calls of 'We love you Kaio!' and helped get the atmosphere going. He was a good-looking young lad, with long black hair in a ponytail and a well-structured, sharp-featured face. "I'm Kaio the fantastic, marvellous and-" (blowing a kiss to the audience) "Utterly sexy." This brought a multitude of whistles from the audience. "This is Whetmar, the Lady's Man." Again, a bombardment of wolf-whistles, "And this is…" Kaio pretended to give his friend a weird glance. "This is Bren. He's just Bren."

Everyone laughed at this. I only knew Bren, but I knew he had a lot of friends in other classes. These two were obviously two of his friends.

"Are you ready to _par-tay?_" Kaio called, getting the audience cheering and whooping.

Bren joined in. "You'd better be! We've got a great line-up of talents tonight, ready to _rock your world!_"

And last but not least, Whetmar. "So put your dancing shoes on, warm up your voice and get ready to _rumble!_ Our first act tonight is the Sensation of the Stage, the Matriarchs of Music, _Hexaggi!_"

Six young teenage girls dressed in Gothic/punk clothes bounced onto the stage, creating a roar in the crowd and a shout of 'Hexaggi! Hexaggi! Hexaggi!'

A short tuning session later, the lead singer came to the front and began to sing.

_"Now the day has come - we are forsaken this time…"_

As the band burst into rock, the crowd leapt into action, joining in with the choral backing track and screaming. This band had been really popular, and the songs were all well known.

_"We lived our lives in our paradise, as gods we shaped the world around. No borderlines we'd stay behind, though balance is something fragile. While we thought we were gaining, we'd turn back the tide, it still slips away; our time has run out, our future has died, there's no more escape…  
__"Now the day has come - we are forsaken, there's no time anymore. Life will pass us by, we are forsaken - we're the last of our kind!"  
__"The sacrifice was much too high, our greed just made us all go blind. We tried to hide what we feared inside; today is the end of tomorrow. As the sea started rising, the land that we conquered just washed away. Although we all have tried to turn back the tide, it was all in vain."  
__"Now the day has come - we are forsaken, there's no time anymore. Life will pass us by, we are forsaken - only ruins stay behind."_

All the girls joined in the Gothic choral part for the next while - an ethereal, ghostly sound, but a moving, emotional sound nonetheless.

Suddenly, the lights went all white, the backing track stopped and only a few spiritual sounds echoed in the background.

_"Now the day has come - we are forsaken this time…"_

As the band took over, the singer got the crowd going, cheering whooping. "Everybody!" she called, as they all joined in.

_"Now the day has come - we are forsaken, there's no time anymore!"_

Everything slowly faded to black as the band slowly faded away…

_"Now the day has come…the day has come…The day has come……"_

The singer bowed her head as the audience whooped and cheered. We were possibly the biggest band of music-loving trainees the teachers had ever seen. Trust me, we really loved our music.

After having her little emotional moment, the singer looked up and smiled. "Hello there!" she said, smiling.

"Hello!" the crowd replied.

The singer introduced her band and they started into another song, more sombre than the other one, but then there was a tap on my shoulder. "Come on. There's a bunch of us hanging around outside and there's a real talentless lot on after." Kose handed me a drink, then dragged me outside.

The evening was just beginning to settle. It was still light, but the sun had almost disappeared over the horizon and dusk was converting to night. A couple of stragglers were placed outside, but most were inside, revelling in the entertainment. The breeze was cool and clear, and although it was mid autumn, the climate on the Assassin islands was much warmer than in Spira. It was like dusk in summer, and the breeze was welcome after the roasting the day gave us. I had, thankfully, kept my skin pale by only going outside for horse riding. The rooms in Citadel were all well aired, so I got plenty of fresh air.

It had to be admitted. For all his tyranny and selfish exploits, Anansi had a nice thing going on there.

"That next song may have been beautiful, but it's depressing too." Kose had a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. "You need sugar." Kose did a silly, little, 'you need sugar' jig, then joined a group of our friends. "Anyone got any sweeties to lend Ruby?"

Kyenc, a pure Assassin, tossed me something, then turned to another friend and started talking about their performance to come.

Kose and I sat down on the low wall next to them. I took the sweet out and began to nibble at it, chewing on my thoughts. I didn't get long before Drak ran outside and whistled for Kose and me. "Baralai's on!" he called.

Baralai was well known in my circle of friends, so they all came inside with me. On stage, Baralai and some friends were setting up. There were four others, five being a popular number for a band - a drummer, a bass player, a keyboard player and a guitarist. As the guitarist did a quick tune and the drummer set up the drumkit to his liking, Baralai introduced the song.

"There isn't much of a real reason to this song anymore." Baralai grinned at the audience. "But there's an interesting story - the three of us were just sitting around one music lesson, listening to songs in the music library, when suddenly a certain chorus took our fancy." he turned round and grinned at the others. "We figured, well, mainly me, but we all figured this particular person might need a bit of cheering up at the end. We were right, but I won't let onto why. And besides - we think everyone will like it."

"We love you Baralai!" Kose called out for a joke.

Baralai raised his eyebrows, and answered with a mysterious tone to his voice. "Kose, we all know who _you_ love."

Kose and I laughed out loud as some of the crowd wolf whistled. Well, it wasn't really a secret. All most people needed now to be completely sure about Kose's affection for Drak was Kose's statement. Baralai grinned at us, then turned around. He tapped the beat with his hand and a tambourine, and then the guitars burst into the opening.

_"Da da daaa, da da daaa…da da daa, da da daaa…"_

"I don't know this song!" Kose shouted to me over the music. I grinned and shrugged back - I didn't know it either.

_"Let it never be said, that romance is dead, cos there's so little else occupying my head. There is nothing I need except the function to breathe, but I'm not really fussed, doesn't matter to me…_

_"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!"_

Already smiling, Kose and I now burst out laughing.

_"(Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) know what you're doing, doing to me? (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa)_

_"Due to lack of interest, tomorrow is cancelled. Let the clocks be reset and the pendulums held, cos there's nothing at all 'cept the space in between, finding out what you're called and repeating your name…  
__"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) know what you're doing, doing to me? (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa, aaaa)"_

Baralai leant in close to the audience at the front, looking right into the eyes and flirting with the crowd during the bridge. _"Could it be, could it be that you're joking with me and you don't really see you with me? Could it be, could it be that you're joking with me and you don't really see you with me?"_

During the instrumental, the guitarist came to the front and lethargically picked at the strings, looking totally at home. His eyes scanned the audience and came to rest on me. "There she is, in the corner, everybody!" he shouted, a smile coming to his lips.

"Damn you, Icke!" I shouted back, laughing, but he couldn't hear me over the music.

_"Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) know what you're doing, doing to me? (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby! (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa, aaaa) Do ya, do ya, do ya, do ya (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa) Know what you're doing, doing to me? (Ahaa-ahaa-ahaa, aaaa…)"_

"Well, blow me away if Baralai hasn't discovered he belongs on stage." Kose remarked.

"Well, he was the leader of New Yevon. He's used to speaking to thousands of people." I explained.

Kose nodded, understandingly. "I was at the speech that he, Gippal and Nooj made after the Vegnagun ordeal. It was amazing. I don't know if I could speak to that many people."

The crowd erupted into applause as the song ended.

"Well, you're about to perform in front of a good many." I pointed out.

"Don't remind me." Kose rolled her eyes. The thing is, she wasn't even nervous about the performance; it was just the thought of the things that people would say that freaked her out. We worked our way through the crowd to the backstage door as we were on quite soon with Baralai.

We met the first band going out and gave them our quick congratulations; Kose stayed share tips on vocal technique as she was singing a song by the same artists. I ran off to find Baralai and his friends to congratulate him. I bumped into him down the corridor when he was halfway through changing into his clothes for our number. I didn't flinch from his shirtless torso as I'd seen it often enough. I was just about past the awkwardness – just.

"'Scuse me," he said, instantly hugging his shirt to his chest, "that's my chest you're looking at!"

I shrugged. "It's more impressive than mine."

Baralai raised an eyebrow. "What _exactly_ is that meant to imply?"

"Muscle, boy." I grinned. "You have to give me that song."

"It's a bit…defunct. Or it will be."

"Oh, shush. Let everyone believe it a while longer." I grinned. "Besides, it's a great song. And now, you're all warmed up for some shouting."

Baralai chuckled. "We're on in three acts."

"Well, let's have fun."

"_Fun?_" Baralai laughed, pretending to be incredulous. "That's 'fun' that doesn't involve hunting fiends?"

Kose flung a t-shirt over my head. "Dress now. Flirt later."

I obediently followed Kose – or rather, let her drag me to some room. We quickly changed into our costumes; well, they weren't really costumes, we'd just colour-co-ordinated. I had taken to wearing a hat to make sure my short hair didn't remind anyone too much of me and I would continue to do so onstage.

"Will the men fall at my feet?" Kose demanded, swirling round. Kose was into her Gothic style and she had put on a green-and-silver skirt to match a corset; the skirt fanned out like the skirts used in the matador dances. It looked beautiful on her. The corset brought out her natural curls and the toning in her limbs. Her rich, brown hair fell in a rippling cascade to beneath her shoulder blades, her natural curls bouncing to their own, wonderful rhythm.

"Kose, if I had anything near your looks…" I mused.

"Have you looked in a mirror recently?" Kose asked, incredulously.

"Kose, I doubt my facial features have changed too much over the last year."

"Just because you're not a typical beauty doesn't mean you're not beautiful."

Kose hadn't been able to bribe me into a skirt, but she'd had a good go at my boots. Silver and green, the theme for our piece, could be found in an abundance of shades. The trim was a shimmering mix of lime greens, while the laces were silver and the actual boot a patched mix of black and dark green. My shorts were simple and black, thank goodness; my hat, one of those cowboyish things, was also plain black. The top, however, had somehow managed to incorporate matching frilly bits on the arms, like the ones on Kose's skirt.

It wasn't awful, I'll grant it that.

"I'm not sure the word 'beautiful' really goes with black leather, punk accessories, grey hair and a strong jawline."

"It's not grey, it's silvery. Sexy?"

"Not fond of that one either."

"Are you warmed up?"

She was fast catching the subject-changing skills off Baralai and me. I nodded in reply.

We left the room to make sure that the band was all set up and the costumes were still good. The flamboyant, matador theme went through the whole band. All the men wore smart, bullfighter's jackets, though they all had slightly different colouring and decoration, and the trousers were all green-black. They didn't look bad at all, especially Baralai, whose dark skin suited the outfit in a strange, exotic way.

"Just after this song." Baralai told me, catching me looking at him. "Don't panic."

"I wasn't."

"Well, your facial expression implied panic."

"Oh, it implied _that_, did it?" I felt like laughing. I'd only just realised I'd been gawping. I had to keep a better hold over myself.

The audience in the hall started to applaud as the previous act took their bows and began to leave the stage. Without a word, we scurried onto the stage and quickly tuned. Baralai flashed a glance at me, mouthing a word at me. I looked around and everyone nodded approval. I nodded back at Baralai. Since when was I the leader in this?

Baralai took centre stage and a murmur of a cheer went through the crowd that built as the audience recognised Baralai. He chuckled. "I'm back," he grinned.

Kose played a sweet, melodic tune on the higher notes to her electric piano; it was quite hard, as all the notes were close together and they were in rounds. It would have been more fitting to play it on the bells, but this was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Baralai closed his eyes, waiting for his tune. The multitude of sounds died away, and Kose played through a simple riff twice.

_"This is what I brought you, this you can keep. This is what I brought, you may forget me. I promised to depart, just promise one thing; kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."_

The drums started and Baralai and I began to stamp our feet in rhythm. For the next verse, I sang a simple riff in the background.

_"This is what I brought you, this you can keep. This is what I brought, you may forget me. I promised you my heart, just promise to sing; kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."_

We ah'd over the next riff, a hauntingly powerful tune that seemed to affect the very rhythm of your heart.

_"Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep. This is what I thought, I thought you'd need me. This is what I thought, so think me naïve. I promised you a heart you'd promise to keep; kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep."_

Kose joined in for the bridge with a high, haunting melody over our strange chanting. The audience were clapping the rhythm along now, something we'd been counting on.

_"Kiss my eyes and lay me to…sleep."_

Instead of fading out the melody, Kose played a couple more bars then immediately switched to a new riff. I came to the right side of the stage while Baralai took the other and our friends, recognising the riff, cheered excitedly.

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you." Baralai smiled. "That was Prelude 12/21. I'm Baralai, that's Kose, Tarka, Pero, Hano and my fellow singer is…"

I raised an eyebrow at him. He was having trouble staying in character.

"Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby, _ahaa-ahaa-ahaa._"

We all laughed. I wouldn't forget _that_ song. Baralai and I faced each other, ready to perform across the stage to each other and the audience. Kose would harmonise.

_"How can you see into my eyes like open doors? Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb. Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold; until you find it there and lead it back…"_

The music cut out.

_"…home."_

Cheers from the audience rose until the guitars burst in.

**"Wake me up!" **shouted Baralai.

_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Call my name and save me from the dark."  
_**"Wake me up!"  
**_"Bid my blood to run!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Before I come undone."  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Save me from the nothing I've become._

_"Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me. Breathe into me and make me real, bring me to life…"_

**"Wake me up!"  
**_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Call my name and save me from the dark."  
_**"Wake me up!"  
**_"Bid my blood to run!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Before I come undone."  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Save me from the nothing I've become. Bring me to life…"  
_**"I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside!"  
**_"Bring me to life."_

We moved together now, as we had decided this bit of the song needed more intensity.

_"Frozen inside without your touch, without your love, darling. Only you are the life among the dead!"_

And then I spotted the problem. If Baralai and I got carried away with this, the next few words would be far too meaningful.

**"All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see; kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me."**

See what I meant?

_"I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems, got to open my eyes to everything."  
_**"Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul!"  
**_**"Don't let me die here…"  
**_**"There must be something more!"  
**_"Bring me to life!"_

We broke away from each other immediately, returning to our respective sides of the stage.

**"Wake me up!"  
**_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Wake me up inside!"  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Call my name and save me from the dark."  
_**"Wake me up!"  
**_"Bid my blood to run!"  
_**"I can't wake up!"  
**_"Before I come undone."  
_**"Save me!"  
**_"Save me from the nothing I've become. Bring me to life…"  
_**"I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside!"  
**_"Bring me to life!"_

Kose faded out to the sound of the soundman distorting the guitars, with her consistent riff. The crowd went wild, possibly from the attention paid to the costumes, possibly from the intensity, possibly from just seeing Baralai again. I didn't know, but everyone instantly broke into smiles. We quickly cleared the stage for the next band, and went off. We didn't want to milk our applause.

Kose picked me up and swept me off my feet then passed me onto Baralai who did the same. I wriggled as much as I could, but I enjoyed it. I couldn't wipe the delighted smile off my face. I even returned their hugs; that was the kind of high I was on. I clapped hands with the band and burst into a final chorus with them all, drowned out in the hall by the next band.

We left to get changed, but Baralai stopped me. He had a serious look on his face and I knew exactly what he was about to say.

"If you're about to talk about the double meaning to the words…" I began.

"I was." Baralai simply stated.

I shrugged. "I'll hear you out."

Baralai half-sighed, half-laughed. "I guess…It doesn't mean anything to me. I'm not angry with you any more. Well…not _as_ angry."

"Why not?"

Baralai chuckled. "Well, I managed to take it out throughout that song, and I know some of the reasons why you left…or at least, what the press said."

"They were close – that was part of it." I smiled, guiltily. "It was amusing to watch the newscasters blaming themselves."

"And…well…" Baralai sighed. "This probably isn't the best time to bring this up."

"Hit me."

"I should be mad at you. I should be conserving every ounce of hatred for you. But – but I find it strangely _impossible_ to be angry with you when we're going to be fighting to the death tomorrow."

Baralai had just taken a rusty, serrated skewer, driven it through my heart, and twisted.

My pain obviously registered on my face. I wasn't guarding my emotions well enough. "It was a bad time…" Baralai started to say, but I cut him off.

"No, no! This had to be brought up." I grabbed him by the shoulders, gritting my teeth against my inner turmoil, and dragged him into a side room.


	16. Fire

**Thanks, Kurissyma. =] By the way, I **_**adore**_** that picture of Paine practising and Rikku taking notes! And the plushies! Awesome.**

**And thank you, DragonGirl323! It's comforting to see someone from so back in my fandom 'career' still around.**

**This one's long and chocolate-fuelled and things really get going now, so enjoy!**

The Warriors: Fire

"I should have had this discussion yesterday." I apologised – I apologised? – quickly closing the door behind us.

"But you didn't want to spoil tonight for me." Baralai interrupted.

I frowned at him. I hadn't left my thoughts unguarded once tonight.

"You may put on a hostile and apathetic front as Paine, but Ruby's more like what you're like underneath all that. I can read you like a book. Well – almost. You didn't want this to overshadow the prom."

I'd desperately motioned for him to shut up as he said Paine, but he'd continued anyway. I brushed off the topic.

"So what are we going to do?"

Baralai snorted. "There you go again."

"What?"

"Changing the subject whenever anyone tries to talk about _you_."

"Perhaps _me_ is not the best subject right now!" I hissed.

"Fine then; what _are_ we going to do?"

I sighed, then turned around and faced the wall. Leaning on it with one arm and rubbing my temples with my spare hand, I thought desperately for a few minutes.

"Do you think there's anything we could trade for our safety?" Baralai asked.

"No." My reply was flat and slightly acerbic.

Baralai cursed under his breath.

My shoulders sank as I realised the conclusion I had come to was the only conclusion I could come to – but then, my posture lifted. "Hurt treasure…" I breathed, my eyes opening.

"What?" Baralai asked, confused.

"_'She, the hurt treasure, is also quiet, but reformed.'_" I quoted. I'd so obviously been in denial for all this time. _Stupid girl._ "It's referring to my names and my character; Paine and Ruby, hurt and treasure. And then I'm reformed because I've taken on a different character."

Baralai didn't go into specifics about me being the woman from the prophecy. He probably knew I didn't want to. "How does this affect us?"

"_'The two will be trained in the arts of the mind, and when the tyrant pits them against each other, whether the woman chooses to fight or not will prevent or start the Great Spira War. The bond of the two will see them through, yet only she can vanquish the tyrant…'_" I had memorised the whole thing.

"So we can't fight."

"No."

"I die, either way. You're too strong and-"

"No, shut up." I turned round and flicked him lightly on the cheek, almost like a slap. Baralai looked a little stunned. "I don't know what I'm going to do, but you're going to have to trust me, whatever happens."

"What are you planning?"

"I said, I don't know." Well, I did. It was half-baked and I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was a plan. "Just…when I tell you to run, you do it. And shout at as many of our friends as you can to run."

"Run where?"

I lowered my voice and made sure the protection around us was still strong. "Out of Citadel."

"That's impossible. The borders stretch into the sky and from there, the shield blocks us."

Yes, the mindshield. "I'll deal with that, though I may need a little help." I told him. Baralai's face was doubtful, but I looked deep into his eyes. "Trust me."

Baralai sighed. "You know I do. I – I'll handle the mindshield…with the other students."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. But what about you?"

"Unless the prophecy intends me to fight Anansi tomorrow, I'll find you. I presume there'll be docks somewhere around as they can't have transported their horses through air."

If the prophecy _did_ intend me to fight Anansi, then I had a good idea what 'ultimate sacrifice' meant and I doubted I'd be seeing anyone for a long time.

"What will we do? Where will we go?"

"I believe that we're to the south-east of Spira, so we'll fly or sail west until hopefully we come to Besaid." I told him. "From there, we can use the commsphere to see if the Gullwings managed to get out and possibly contact other areas."

"You can do that?"

"Shinra upgraded them before I ran off."

"This is pretty well thought out for someone who doesn't know what the plan is." Baralai pointed out, suspiciously.

"Yeah, well, you're only encouraging me." It was a joke, but I didn't smile. The situation was too serious for that.

"When you fight Anansi, you'll have to take me with you."

"Why?"

"Because I need to undo the sacrifice, by whatever means necessary."

I thought this through. "Yes…you probably do."

"I _will_ bring you back." Baralai promised, his hand now on my shoulder and a look of such determination on his face that I felt a little scared. "Trust me."

I smiled, ever so slightly, and put my arm over his and onto his shoulder. "You know I do."

We shared a conspiratorial grin.

**[The Arena]**

"It has been decided that Baralai Labad and Ruby White have yet to prove their submission to the Assassins." Anansi told the arena. His voice didn't boom the way an announcer's did, it was more like a chill breeze, however, it had just as much authority and presence.

I snorted. _Submission._

"In order to prove their…_submission…_" Anansi sneaked a sneer at me; he'd obviously heard my snort. "…the two have been made to fight against one another. Whatever the outcome, we shall have a newly confirmed member and an erased patch of rebellion."

I looked at Baralai out of the corner of my eye, and he looked at me. He wasn't trying to restrain the fear from his face, but after all, he had very little idea of what I was going to do. Ignorance breeds fear.

The arena was not entirely ideal for my plan; it was more like a stadium. There were three tiers, with a large, sandy pit below. It was more like an indoor Coliseum. There was an awful lot of empty space; but then, the air would feed my plan and I could kill off a lot of Assassins due to the amount of people this place could hold.

"For your lives." Anansi finished, and sat down, eagerly awaiting his bloodshed.

I turned to Baralai, body tense, waiting for him to spring the first attack. I raised my eyebrows at him, to try and cue him. He looked quite confused, but he was willing to trust me. He sprang forward with that speed that had nearly crushed the Gullwings under Bevelle, and our short fight began.

Anansi was counting on a long, harsh and bloody fight. Baralai and I were common sparring partners and we knew each other's fighting habits better than we knew our own. I knew that little weak spot by his knee if you managed to get him to take an emergency swipe at your shoulder; he knew that I sometimes forgot about my left side while in a high guard.

However, Anansi was _not_ counting on the fact that I was wearing a garment grid. I had managed to sneak a couple of my favourites spheres away from Shinra and today I had a certain one in mind.

A minute into the battle, once everyone was sure that we weren't going to try any funny business, I flipped into black mage and started throwing low-level spells at Baralai, making sure I didn't hurt him too much.

At first Anansi wasn't sure what to make, but I soon heard his delighted laugh echoing down from his stand.

It soon died away when a surge of burning flames headed his way.

You see, black mage is a wonderful dressphere, especially when you get to third-level spells. Now, imagine black mage in the hands of a very powerful Assassin. Imagine the damage one Firaga could do, with an Assassin feeding it and directing it, fanning it out over a great area.

Baralai stopped in wonder and looked up. The whole of the top balcony, including Anansi's box, was alight, with Assassins screaming and running through the flames. I had no doubt that a lot of them could put out the fire, if they had proper power over elements and could conjure water from thin air. Baralai had little time to wonder at my powers; I turned to him and shouted, in the most urgent voice I could summon, "_RUN!_"

Baralai looked at me for one painful second, not sure whether to leave me on my own. I shouted at him again, more urgently; I couldn't have him waste his life here. His survival instinct kicked in and he fled through the doors after the soldiers. I quickly set fire to the other two rows, then created a semicircle of flames in the sandpit; yes, I can set fire to sand. I switched to warrior and fled after the soldiers through the gates to the arena.

_"PAINE!"_

The agonised, furious, tormented shout burst through the flames in the same way the gunshot ripped through the arena and the bullet tore through my shoulder. I cried in agony but kept running; he hadn't taken out my legs.

Anansi couldn't leave well enough alone.

God knew where Baralai had went, but I knew we only had a matter of time before the sirens went up. In fact, the sirens went up just as I was thinking that and I hit myself for my stupidity.

A group of guards ran towards me from behind and I felt a couple of attempts to get to my mind. I couldn't let them into my brain, as it would reveal everything else. I sighed and made a run for it. The guards saw me and gave chase.

_BARALAI! _I screamed through my head, trying to detect the presence I knew to be Baralai's. This wasn't a skill I was particularly good at, but I could usually find Baralai's. I guess everyone's emotions were so different at that time that I couldn't tell one mind from the other. _WHERE ARE YOU?_

It took him a couple of seconds to get back to me. _I found Drak_, he replied. _We're headed to the stables to cause a little more mayhem; some people aren't happy to leave their horses behind._

I snorted, not in humour but trying to stomach the pain in my shoulder.

_Paine?_

_It's nothing. A guard managed to brush me._

It was harder to lie in your head, but Baralai brushed it off. _We're going to have to open the gates; the newest recruits can't fly. Where are you?_

_Can't talk._

The guards had caught up and I swung around to face them. With my mind heavily guarded against their attacks, I managed to make up for my wound with my general skills. The guards seemed shocked at my finesse and one by one I took them down until the last few scarpered.

I sped through a couple of corridors then got caught up with the crowd as they sped through a door, then took to the air and wheeled around, checking for any signs of familiar or dangerous life.

_Where had Anansi gone? _I couldn't hide from him forever. If I were to face him now, he would find me, easily. He'd memorised my 'blueprint' very quickly.

Gritting my teeth and clutching my shoulder, I shot like a bullet through the air towards the stables until I realised that my speed would easily give me away against everyone else. I touched down to the ground a little way from them and wove my way around, trying to lose any trackers on foot.

Drak was organising the students from atop his mount. A rope attached Pippin to Drak's own horse, a tall, bulky, spotted mare, but Baralai was nowhere to be seen.

"Drak!" I called as I approached.

"Lai's up, Adenar's in her stable." Drak answered briefly, keeping his eyes on the students running around.

"Kose?" I shouted, heading to Adenar.

"Up." Drak replied, though there was a hint of worry in his voice.

It took a brief moment for me to calm Adenar down, before I released her from her stable. I put her headcollar on then let her loose in the direction of the gate; Adenar needed no goading to flee from the flames that were quickly engulfing the building. Assassins jumped to the side, some not quick enough; I could now see the mayhem the riders would cause.

"You did that?" Drak asked, looking up at the flames and sounding impressed.

"Mm." I replied, then took to the air to join Baralai. Once the mindshield was down, it would be easier to take down the guards at the gates.

Citadel was vast and so finding Baralai amongst the students and other spur-of-the-moment renegades was like finding a Guado on Mt Gagazet.

I needn't have worried; the unseen, amassed strength of the gathered mutineers removed the mindshield only seconds after I added my own mind. Most of them flew upwards, to safety, with a large number of fierce-looking guards on their tail. I flew back downwards with a dedicated group to help the group at the gate.

I caught up with Kose on the way. "Ready for some _real_ action?" I grinned, eagerly producing my sword.

"You have _no_ idea." Kose laughed, taking out her own weapon. Did I mention she was a Samurai?

The gate was embedded into the wall, with thousands of metres of concrete stretching above it, so we had to fly through the windows to get inside; some were already broken, some shattered as we came through. Some made quick use of white magic, hovering at the windows to heal those who encountered glass shards.

Kose and I blasted through our windows, swiping our swords at them first to minimise flying glass as we landed. It was like we hadn't been a day away from real combat; months of holding back in training flew away as my old skills and new skills combined to surprise me with just how much I'd improved.

"How do we open it?" Kose shouted above the uproar. The guards themselves were ten times harder than the ones I had fought near the arena, so progress was slow and difficult, despite our improved skills.

"Cover me." Kose said, and went back to stand against the wall, preparing some attack. I took on her share of warriors and it wasn't easy; panic gripped me at the thought of failing my friend. The wound in my shoulder was only giving out more and more blood. A Gunner behind me saw my struggles and helped to take out some of my enemies.

Suddenly, a light blasted through the room and all of the guards dropped down, KO'd. I stared at Kose, who was regaining her breath.

"Let's go before more come!" Kose shouted at me, leading the way down the stairs. She was more powerful than I had thought.

"That was risky, wasn't it?" I called after her.

"Yeah, it doesn't always work. Thank goodness it did." Kose replied. A couple more flights of stairs and we came across more fighting. Kose and I ran forward to help, but the Gunner stopped me. I looked round at them to see Baralai's friend, Icke.

"You're losing too much blood. Go find a healer." Icke told me, then strode forward.

I was running on adrenaline so I wasn't really feeling the pain, but I obeyed his words. My head had begun to feel a bit too dizzy and light, which wasn't particularly good for fighting. I sought out a White Mage and took a few moments of their time to heal up. It's harder healing physical wounds than just healing your focus and stamina and so a half-healed wound was left. Still, if I'd left it any longer, I would have lost a lot of blood. There's a difference between death and KO, after all, or we'd all be immortal.

I jumped back into the fray with renewed vigour, glad to have the use of my arm back. We seemed to be winning, as I had to run down another flight of stairs to catch up with everyone. I guess we had a height advantage, as we were raining down on them. I couldn't see Kose or Icke in the fray and I couldn't call out to them through my mind as they'd be distracted. I knocked a couple of guards out of the way and made my way to the front line.

One more flight of steps and we would be into the main hall, where the winch for the gate was held. I sliced at a couple of guards, then let my side overtake me so I wouldn't have too much else to focus on. I set my mind to the winch and began to open the gate. Affecting external objects that didn't have a brain for me to affect was a tricky business and one that we'd only moved onto after truly perfecting our power over other minds. Still, I was fairly good at it and after wrestling a while with the weight of the thing, it slowly began to crunch to life.

I gritted my teeth with the strain and leaned against the wall. Perhaps a couple of the guards had noticed what was happening and were fighting back; I was encountering too much strain for an unguarded object. That or I'd miscalculated the weight.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and, simultaneously, the strain on me halved. My eyes were trained on the winch, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar set of robes step into vision.

_Baralai. At last._

Together, we managed to get the massive gate high enough for the masses outside to start flooding in. The resistant parties quickly faded away as they became distracted by the students and rebels, and we managed to get the gate up. I set the lock on it, then turned to a White Mage and a warrior whose class I couldn't discern.

"Keep an eye on the gate; make sure no-one puts it down." I told them, and they nodded their heads, eager to have something particularly important to do. Baralai and I ran down to join the fray. "Where _were_ you?" I hissed, both angry that he'd disappeared and relieved he was all right. Of course, I wasn't going to _tell_ him that.

"Drak asked me to help co-ordinate the riders." Baralai explained, taken aback at my harsh tone. "A group of guards were massing in a courtyard, waiting to dispatch. Drak led a charge and took them down."

A couple of loose horses clattered through, but none of them were Adenar. Kose flew down and landed softly on a stray, red bay mare. "Grab a horse!" she shouted at me. "I'm sure the owner will be glad to see them safe, rather than alone!"

It felt weird to ride any horse other than Adenar, especially when I was used to her diminutive height and funny ways, but I flew down and mounted a golden stallion who seemed to be spooking every which way. I could see in his body type that he was powerful; he would help me get through the crowd. I calmed him down then looked to Baralai, who had chosen a brown mare. We were all bareback, but we had been trained to ride like this, too. It was quite different to riding chocobos, who were constantly bridled.

My added height meant that I now had a good advantage over those around me and the power of the stallion meant that I could career around the room wildly and do plenty of damage. It soon became apparent that he was trained for war; he contributed his own kicks and bites, though not always at the right people.

_Paine! _The shout brought my attention to Baralai. "We need to go, they're going to shut off the docks!"

I gritted my teeth. This horse was strong, but not fast. If I had Adenar, I would have happily ridden there, leading those on foot and those on horses. I made a split-second decision. "You take a group and fly there!" I shouted. "I'll gather some who can't fly and come in a second wave!"

Baralai had no time to argue, so he jumped off his horse and used the rebound to leap into the air, signalling to a vague group of about ten people as he went. About ten more joined him, and a couple of guards followed, hoping to take them down. Their efforts would be fruitless.

I simply let my stallion career around for a while, doing plenty of damage by himself, while I gathered a group through telepathy to go as a second wave. We would have to leave quickly to have any effect and thank Yevon that Adenar appeared before we left; I handed the palomino to his rightful owner and took up position on Adenar, who was extremely glad to see me.

With a shout, I spurred her through the crowd, the others taking their cue and either sprinting or riding after us. Those who didn't have horses jumped up behind on the bigger horses and rode double; Adenar was too small for two riders and besides, we were leading the group so we had to stay at the front.

I had absolutely no idea where we were going, so I had to try and blank the noise of the horses' hooves and hear where more sounds of fighting were coming from. I assumed that if I followed the road we would come to the docks, but we reached a crossroads so I halted the party.

I held up a hand to let everyone know that I wanted to stop and I was in control, then I tuned my ears to the sounds of the forest around us. It seemed fitting that a forest labyrinth should surround Citadel.

"That way." I eventually said, having picked up vague sounds of ships from the right.

Soon, plumes of smoke began to funnel above the trees and we took those as guides for our direction. "Alright, everyone!" I shouted above the pounding of hooves. "You only have two orders; kick their sorry little asses, then get the hell off this island!"

I held up my sword to rally their courage. I'd picked up notes of fear and despair from the group, so I thought they could do with a little confidence-boost. I heard cheers behind me, and saw people to my left and right hold up their own weapons.

We had been keeping an even canter for the whole way to conserve our horses' energy but as we rounded the corner and saw a long straight towards the docks, I yelled and pushed Adenar into gear. She flew forward like a bullet, faster than horses twice her size. The rest of the group followed and the pounding around my ears intensified like a raging storm.

The guards had heard us coming and set up a vague barrier. All I was scared of was the long run-up and how long a chance they had to fire their guns.

_Hey, Lai, a little help?_ I called.

I needn't have asked. Three figures bolted through the air and were amongst the guards before they could even think of firing. I had everyone fan out into line formation so that the double riders could dismount and get through the barrier easier. The horses lined up in a single line and jumped the barricade easily; it had barely reached up _Adenar's _withers.

The remaining sailors quickly fell under the added strength of the riders, or came over to our side. Organising everyone onto boats wasn't hard; some were even happy to let their horses loose and fly to Spira, knowing that the horses only had a small island to run wild on and that little harm could befall them. The flames had not yet spread to the forest and besides, there was a long stretch between forest and ocean that ran a good way around the island that they'd be safe in. Baralai and Kose were two of those people and, regretfully, I let Adenar go. I fastened one of my lighter belts around her neck, however, so I could easily find her if I returned.

We quickly grabbed some sustenance from the dock supplies, then took to the air. According to the maps at the dock, we were now headed to Besaid.

The escape from Citadel was complete. The fight with Anansi was obviously not destined for that day. What would follow when we reached Spira, however, was anyone's guess…


	17. Power & Prophecy

The Warriors: Power & Prophecy

I almost ran to the Celsius and kissed the door when I saw it parked at Besaid. We landed on the beach and were met by the shocked faces of three Aurochs. They froze. What sort of magic were we flying humans using?

"Praetor!" Keepa shouted, before his eyes landed on me. "_Paine!_"

"Where are the Gullwings?" I asked, urgency in my voice, striding towards him as I spoke.

"U-up at the village…" Keepa stuttered, beckoning.

We ran towards the village, my trio overtaking the blitzers and easily reaching the village first. Keepa let us know that the Warriors were on Besaid as we sped on ahead. When we reached the village, my eyes darted wildly around as I tried to remember which tent was Wakka and Lulu's. The village seemed mostly deserted, but the wandering villagers halted, staring in wonder.

"_Emerald!_" I shouted, desperately hoping she was still alive.

She instantly recognised the sound of my voice and ran out of the Auroch's tent. The sight of the little Al Bhed was enough to bring tears to my eyes, which I desperately blinked back. I was _not_ going to lose my self-control.

"Ruby!" Emerald shouted, replying to my voice. Then she took in my appearance and halted six feet away. "I mean, Lady Paine! I mean…_cred_…"

I stayed where I was, not sure whether to cross the mental line we'd both drawn in the ground. "It's me…it's both…" I stammered, trying to let her know the truth. She guessed what I wanted to say, and then she decided she didn't care. She ran forward and threw her arms around me. I found myself hugging her back.

After a couple of seconds, I broke away, shrugged my shoulders and fiddled with my sword, trying to shake off my outburst. Everyone else had appeared now and was looking at me, a million different emotions coming from twenty different pairs of eyes.

"I…" I began to say, then found I had no words to address them with. Diamond and the Warriors just about recognised their Ruby, while the Gullwings were staring at Paine for the first time in over a year. They didn't need any prompting to make the connection.

"I'm back?" I offered. My eyebrows creased and my mouth struggled in order to keep back my sobs. I hadn't battled with such a strong feeling of happiness for a long time.

As ever, it was wonderful, faithful Rikku who broke the awkwardness. "_Paine!_" she shouted, running at me and hooking her arms around me. I didn't struggle but I tensed, unsure of how to react. I didn't want them thinking I'd gone soft, but I knew more hugs would be on the way. "You were Ruby all along!" Rikku declared.

"I guess I couldn't keep up my disguise…" I muttered, not bitterly but resignedly.

Diamond came forward, her eyes searching mine with confusion written all over her face. "You really _were_ Paine. We were so _stupid_."

"I knew it all along." Gippal smirked, sauntering out of one of the tents. Rikku scoffed and Baralai snorted.

"He did." I admitted. "He guessed me out on the ship to Besaid." I felt irritation and frustration emit from Baralai, and I told him, _Sorry._ "I also told Shinra just as we left with the Assassins."

"That was because of me!" Emerald's eyes lit up and she grinned at Gippal. "On the ship! I told you we had a lookalike, and you came to investigate!"

"He returned my sword." I explained. My voice was calming down now.

Silence fell; the most awkward silence I'd ever experienced. The crowd had grown and was viewing us with wary eyes. Most were concerned that we were secret Assassin converts. Kewa and Ditsup hung around near the temple, looking particularly tense.

"So…what happens now?" Gold asked my trio.

"You came from the Assassins. You have more of an idea than us." Silver explained.

There was a strange air amongst the Warriors; they were normally quite an easy-going, friendly bunch. They were hovering closer together than usual, keeping to themselves. They seemed strangely diminished – then it dawned on me. A familiar, raven-headed woman was missing. "Onyx…" I breathed, knowing the answer. The sadness that suddenly emanated from the Warriors relayed it to me. "No…why? How?"

"We fled from Bevelle." Diamond took up the story. "We took the exit to Macalania and fled on chocobos. They chased us on horseback, but the chocobos were faster. We went off the main path through Spira to the sea. Eventually, a flying group caught us. Onyx stayed to fight them off…"

"She didn't last a minute." I finished.

"How do _you_ know?" Silver demanded, bitterly.

"I can read your minds." I told her, blankly. I didn't need to beat about the bush; it would all come out, eventually.

"All three of you?" Yuna asked, shocked.

"Yes. Oh." I paused, realising we hadn't introduced Kose.

"This is Kose, our trusted friend and companion. She was in our training group." Baralai told them.

"Where's Nooj?" I asked.

"He's in Kilika." Gippal said. Then he broke into a delighted, relieved smile and to everyone's shock, tears began to well in _his_ eyes, too. "And no one's welcomed you back yet, have they, 'Lai?"

Baralai shook his head, not quite believing the sudden change of character that had occurred to Gippal. The two old friends walked forward and embraced, trying to keep it manly but unable to suppress the joy of seeing each other alive. It was like the moment after we'd defeated Vegnagun when the tension broke and we all hugged each other like the friends we once were.

"Come here, Dr P, then we're almost complete." Gippal called, beckoning for me. It wouldn't be fair to refuse; I strode forward and put my arms, limply but firmly, around their waists.

"Really, guys, you're embarrassing me." I declared. "We have plans to make."

"We can't make plans while we're all still awkward." Gippal reprimanded me, then opened up the circle. "Group hug, while we've got Paine captured. That means you too, Warriors." Gippal added, gesturing to the group who stayed put. "You're part of the family now."

Baralai and me separated to make room for Kose. "Well, that means Kose is too." Baralai added, welcoming her back in between us.

Kose giggled and joined us. "Check me out, rubbing shoulders with the Spiran elite. And keep your thoughts to yourself, missy. He could have heard that if he'd been listening." Kose raised her eyebrows at me.

It was easier to read the minds of people you knew well, and obviously I'd let down my guard. Kose had felt the jealousy in my head as she took my place next to Baralai. Proximity played a part, too, so my emotions would have almost screamed themselves in her ear. I desperately prayed that Baralai had been sufficiently distracted.

He had, as Rikku had wiggled in next to him and started tickling him. "_Someone_ suits black!" Rikku teased. I made a real effort to not scream my jealousy at Kose. Still, Kose's comment had distracted everyone else.

"What does she mean?" Diamond asked, ever curious.

I shrugged it off. "We can hear other people's emotions, if they're feeling strong enough."

"Prove it." Gold and Silver seemed to be uncharacteristically tense; they were taking Onyx's death very badly.

"Well, Kose is feeling quite nervous around you all." I told them. "Yuna is feeling apprehensive; she isn't sure if we're still on side. Silver is in pain both physically and mentally, and in a great state of grieving with Diamond and Gold. Drak…wait…_Drak?_"

I felt his emotions of relief and love swell long before he touched down. We broke the circle and my trio looked towards a dark blot in the sky, coming closer. A minute later, Drak touched down amongst us and embraced us.

"Thank Ideis. You're safe." Drak breathed, squeezing us tight. "Most of the Assassins are headed here, which isn't good as the guards will head here too and it's too small here. Where should we land?"

I grimaced. So _I_ had to choose the first battlefield.

"Go to Luca, north to the next island and then north again." Baralai spared me the trouble. "It's on the coast, and spares the islands. There are good buildings to use as defences."

"Thank you. Some later ships are coming with horses, so I may instruct them to land here when the guards are distracted." Drak replied. He turned to the others and bowed. "Gullwings, Warriors, it is an honour that I hope to repeat in more peaceful times." Drak then took off, faster than Anansi's bullet.

Baralai looked at me. "I think we should take the night here, to allow the others to arm themselves the oncoming guards and to take them out. We'll need a watch out, though, in case _he _comes."

"I'll take first." Kose offered.

"Second." I said, but Baralai shook his head. "You have to rest. You have a hard day ahead." Baralai replied.

"A small watch won't hurt." I insisted.

"_I'll_ take second." Emerald said.

"I think Assassins should do it." Kose intervened. "The Spirans won't have the abilities to take on Assassins."

"Good idea." I sighed, giving in.

"I'll chase after Drak and fetch some friends." Kose told us, then rocketed into the air and flew towards Kilika.

"Can _you_ do that?" Rikku asked me, excitedly.

"Now's not the time." I replied. Most of the village had turned out to see what was going on; my heart softened slightly as I saw Lulu, Wakka and Vidina. I had to admit, I'd grown quite close to Lulu in the short time I'd known her and she seemed to like me. Vidina had grown loads since I'd last seen him.

"If ships land, we can meet them at the beach and keep them there." Baralai suggested.

I nodded, and turned to everyone else. "I believe we have a story to tell you, and you have one to tell us."

**[Dusk]**

"Our story isn't long." Yuna told me. "After the Assassins landed and we all escaped, their hand spread all the way North, but also South, down to Djosé."

"LeBlanc?" Baralai asked, worried about Nooj and his betrothed.

"She ran to Nooj. The main thing is that the Assassins now have the Farplane. We've heard they find it very interesting. It seems that Assassins go there, too, when they die."

"The story, Yuna." I pushed.

"They haven't taken Bikanel. That's the interesting part; it seems that the Al Bhed, as scatterbrained as some of them can be…" Yuna ruffled Rikku's hair, affectionately, "…have better mental power than other races, so the Assassins don't want to go there until they know more. We've been holed up here for the past three months, and it seems the Assassins were waiting to finish training their new recruits before advancing."

Drak nodded in confirmation. He'd rejoined our group after organising the escaping Assassins. Five other Assassins were with us, all friends from training. The horses had landed here and at Kilika; our horses had been eventually brought over to Besaid.

"So not nearly as long as ours." Baralai sighed. We had explained our situation earlier, editing bits and playing things down, so as not to make people worry. It was a lot to digest. "You've been abandoned for so long…"

Diamond leant forward, joining the discussion, and addressed Drak. "You seem to be more in the know than others. Where did these Assassin…_powers_…come from?"

"No one's sure." Drak shook his head. "The oldest Assassin records show us to have been a small group of sailors and pirates who settled when they found the island. Long ago we used to trade with the mainland but when our powers developed…" Drak shrugged. "All we know is, telepathy was the first form and it is still evolving. Purebloods are always stronger than halfbloods, though half-Al Bheds have recently been found to cope as well as purebloods. There is a list of current basic skills that all purebloods have, a list of emerging evolutions and twists, and a list of those becoming immersed in the general population."

Baralai left the group; he hated Assassin history, even told by someone as engaging as Drak. I digested the information; I had heard none of it before. No doubt we had been taught it before, but no one had paid attention in Assassin History. "You say that purebloods are strongest…"

"I'm not sure about your case." Drak admitted. "There are occasions where half-bloods have received particularly strong traits from the Assassins, but they tend to have a little Assassin blood from both parents. Perhaps the inherited skills are a recessive gene." Drak shrugged and I pretended to understand. "You, however…nothing like you has been documented before."

"Unless…" Kose breathed, something forming in her mind. We encouraged her onwards. "I spent a lot of time with Drak, looking at Assassin History, as he was far more interesting than Master Gregory." Kose explained. "We spent a lot of time looking at previous, fulfilled prophecies."

"Bear in mind that not all prophecies are mandatory." Drak added. "Not all come into full being or even begin."

"It seemed to me that where two people were bound together by a prophecy, be it by love or by death or by war, they always shared traits." Kose nudged Drak. "Remember, we found a small volume on the subject? They were not physical traits, but abilities and some personality traits. Sometimes these traits would disappear after the prophecy had been completed."

"You mean to say that I'm only this strong because I have to be to face Anansi? Because our fates are tied?"

"It's strange, though." Drak shook his head. "In most prophetic bonds where a life must be sacrificed, they are bound by pain as well as ability. That is to say, if he were to receive a wound on his shoulder, you would experience pain in that area. And vice versa, of course. Nothing like that has happened."

I shifted around, awkwardly. "Perhaps things will become clearer in the events of tomorrow."

"Yes…perhaps." Drak nodded, but he didn't seem convinced. "In the meantime, let's discuss our strategy for the morrow."

* * *

So dudes, it looks like we have about four chapters to go.

Updates from now on will be slow, but not nonexistant. I have three GCSE science exams coming up in the next two weeks and my time will be taken with revising.

Usually I would be publishing anyway, but because this stuff now is so important, I can't just rush through a chapter and hope for the best. I really want this to be good.

Anyway. R&R.

Also, I'm looking for a beta reader to read chapter nineteen for me. It's very pivotal – _the _pivotal chapter – and I appreciate if you don't want spoilers, but I'd really appreciate some help so I can get it as good as possible.


	18. It's Too Easy

Ok. I'm going to do a quick shout out because I don't want to talk again for a while because we're getting gritty now.

I'd love to say a really big thank you to all those who have pressed that lovely green button and let me know that they're enjoying this story. =]

I'd also like to ask all those who have faved this story or signed up for alerts to investigate that lovely green button and get in touch! It makes me very sad not to hear from you. =[ Those such as **aurora moon 101, Hikari no Kokoro, AphoenixEmergedFromFlames, Katara71, Serised, colorguardlover, Bye-Forever, Half-elf, fluffernutter, littlesnowfarie2005 **and, most recently, **Hurricane-5.**

C'mon, drop me a note to tell me why you thought the story was worth a fave or alert. I don't bite, I swears it.

Anyway, I'm gonna shut up for a couple of chapters now because there's a flow I don't want to interrupt. Toodlepip!

The Warriors: It's Too Easy

The sun hadn't begun to appear when I crawled out of my tent. At first I had dropped asleep the moment my head touched my pillow, but I'd been plagued with old nightmares. I began to wonder; was someone was rooting through my head and making such things grow, like an infestation of spiders in an old prison cell? During Icke's watch I'd asked him to try and pry into my mind whilst I was asleep. He was met with failure, so I had to suffer the memories.

By the time I left the tent I had given up on sleep. Drak was on watch and there were things I wanted to ask him.

"You should sleep, Paine."

He hadn't even needed to turn around to know who it was. I let out an amused sigh and sat down next to him at the fire.

"Nothing's stirred all night. No one's encountered any resistance. You can sleep." Drak insisted, looking at my weary face.

"I can't sleep." I told him.

"Nightmares? I heard you crying out a couple of times." Drak asked.

I nodded.

"We could wake up Ola and ask her to calm your thoughts." Drak suggested, taking me by surprise.

"She can do that?"

"Mm-hmm. It's quite a rare gift; only acknowledged in the last five years."

"I need to talk about that." I told him, swivelling slightly so I was facing him more. "I know now that I only have such excelled powers because I share a prophetic bond with Anansi. Will they go when he's dead? Might there be a chance that, although we don't share pain, we share death? Do I have any abilities that are my own?"

Drak breathed out, thinking. The peaceful crackle of the fire meant that it wasn't awkward; besides, I was willing to give him all the time in the world if he could just come up with some answers.

"All prophecies leave unanswered questions." Drak finally said. "Some of yours may never be answered. Will you let me look into your mind? If I delve into your past I might be able to find some answers."

This was Drak's speciality; he had problems with present thoughts, but unlike other Assassins, he could delve so far back into someone's archive of memories that he could almost go back to the moment you were conceived. He could dig up horrible and wonderful memories you'd forgotten and work out why someone was the way they were.

"Don't wander." I told him, and lowered the barriers for him. I wasn't sure if his search would show me the memories, and I certainly didn't _want_ to see them again.

"It's tempting; your history is fascinating. Stare at one point, just in case I do. You won't see any images."

I stared at a stone in the ground while he, almost unfelt by me, surfed through the deepest workings of my mind. It was a strange feeling; warmth in a certain part of my brain, and the world in front of me would swim slightly every now and then, presumably as he found deeply buried memories.

His consciousness left my mind and I breathed easy.

"I think you do. When you were younger you could hear your mother's heart beating from a few inches away from her chest – heightened hearing is one, then. And there's a most curious one – you seemed to have the odd talent of being able to heal people. Not heal their stamina, as in magic-wise; but heal their souls and keep them alive. I presume the prophetic bond hadn't started working then."

His words re-awoke old memories and I knew he was telling the truth. The powers that might have been fascinated me. "When would it have started working?"

"The moment a key instant in your life happened, or when you met a certain person. Your bond was triggered when you read the prophecy and the talents took a day or so to show themselves. As for whether they will go when Anansi dies, I can't say, nor can I say that you share death. I can only hope we've got things right."

I was about to ask what he meant, but Baralai had appeared to swap watches. He gave me a very stern look.

"I couldn't sleep." I told him.

"I sympathise." Drak said, taking my side. "My sleep's been very shallow. We'll ask Ola to calm her thoughts."

"She can do that?" Baralai asked, curiously.

"She can." Drak nodded. Then he grinned. "Do you want to know what Baralai's 'special abilities' are?"

I looked at Baralai expectantly. "I have an built-in cloaking device and I can read animal emotions." Baralai revealed.

"So you can make yourself undetectable?" I asked him, impressed.

"Yes. I've learnt to extend it to one person who I'm touching, but I'm still learning."

"That ability emerged twenty years ago but hasn't spread very far. I don't think even Anansi has that ability." Drak told me. "However, the animal one is becoming fairly common – Kose can do that, too."

"All this information is making my head swim." I told Drak; a total understatement. My mind was a whirlpool.

Drak nodded. "We'll go get Ola."

* * *

By the time the 'army' reached the Mi'ihen Highroad, things were getting tense. We'd robbed the Youth League of all its machina in Kilika so the Spirans didn't have to fight in the front line; as shown by Onyx, they didn't stand a chance. Drak and Kose led the vast army we'd amassed because I had been made to save myself for Anansi.

We had picked up the arrivals in Luca and Kilika and not one of them had not wanted to fight. Luca hadn't been too badly damaged by the oncoming guards. They had come in scattered waves and hadn't expected the rebels to put up such an organised and effective fight. They had fled, been converted, or faced the consequences.

Yuna's brown hair appeared at my side and I leant down, expecting a short message.

"Can we talk?" Yuna asked, obviously meaning a personal chat.

I sighed. "About what?"

"About this prophecy."

"Shoot."

"Well…this 'ultimate sacrifice'…that means you, right?" Yuna questioned, hesitantly.

"Yes."

"Are you ok with that?"

"Why do you ask?" I replied, confused.

"I was going to sacrifice myself once, wasn't I?" Yuna explained. "I remember what it was like…our last walk up to Zanarkand, when I thought it was the last night of my life. It was both terrifying and…strangely calm."

I paused, silent. I could see it now; both Yuna and I were prepared to give our lives for Spira.

"Though," Yuna continued, "I suppose we both made our choice already."

"You know what, Yuna?" I replied, slowly, a small smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. "There is no difference between you, I, or any of the old Crusaders, or any of our prominent warriors here. We're all prepared to give our lives for peace. For some, it's more certain that they will die than others; for me, it's a given. You cheated death. You found a way around it. So have I; I have Baralai, and I happily trust my life into his hands."

Yuna wasn't insulted by what I said though in a way, I had totally scorned all she had done. "You would make a much better public speaker than I ever would."

"Hmm."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

I looked at her, puzzled. It was the same tone of voice that Drak had used when he had briefly mentioned some sort of doubt. "What do you mean?"

"Are you certain that this is what the prophecy means?"

"Well, it's all made sense so far. And no one else has any other translations. It's in pretty plain English."

"Surely it's in Sassin?"

"It was. I translated it. If anyone knows it well, we Assassins do."

I shocked myself with that statement. It was the first time I had referred to myself as part of the nation, and the first time I'd sounded at all proud to be so.

Yuna seemed fairly appeased. "Lucil said to ask if you could send a half Al-Bhed down. There have been some awkward arguments down at a couple of the guns."

I searched around for someone suitable, then sent two girls down to sort things out.

"Thank you. They find it more comforting if they have someone who doesn't quite resemble the Assassins." Yuna said, then returned to the back lines.

It was weird to watch the twice-round saviour of Spira running around obeying my orders. It was also strangely gratifying, as Yuna seemed quite at home following someone _else's_ orders for a change. It was nice to make her happy for a change. After all, she had led the Gullwings on so many stupid missions, that it seemed trying to make herself useful was what she really wanted in life.

I nudged Adenar's sides and she took me to the front of the army. "Drak." I called. "Come here."

He obliged.

"I need to know what you're thinking about this prophecy."

Drak sighed, looking to the heavens. "There's nothing to tell. It just _feels_ wrong to me. I've been studying prophecies ever since I came across your one and there's never been anything that's _close_ to this easy."

"Well, maybe this is just an anomaly."

"Maybe." Drak shrugged. "I hope, for your sake, that it is."

I bit back a reply. "Let me know if you think of anything."

Adenar and I went back to our position in the middle of the masses. We were now filing off the Mi'ihen Highroad onto Mushroom Rock Road. There was more abandoned machina along here that the Al Bhed would pick up and see what they could do with in the limited marching time they had. Most of the Machina Faction had gone to Djosé to help bolster the defences there; thankfully, the Assassins hadn't yet attacked.

They probably would when they realised what we were up to.

Drak and Kose sent out a company of riders to prevent the Al Bhed being overrun if the Assassins decided to attack before we got there. The forty odd riders sped off along the dusty track and my heart went with them.

"It's started." Baralai muttered.

I almost jumped out of my skin. "_Baralai Farkari Labad_! Will you stop sneaking up on me!"

He would have laughed out loud if the situation hadn't been so tense. "Sorry. I found out that Anansi's gone to Bevelle. He'll have scanned over our lines a million times and I just wanted to take any chance of confusing him."

Basically, Baralai had his cloaking device 'on' to see if Anansi would get confused.

Five minutes later we had reached the crossroads at Djosé Temple. Kose and Drak picked up the pace to a trot. An electric current of excitement ran through the group as the other horses followed suit and we rounded the corner, heading towards the Moonflow. The Assassins had set up their stronghold just across the river; very clever. The group of riders ahead had already taken the shoopuf, while a company of fliers soared overhead to join them. We would do this in a number of waves. The shoopuf was back when we reached the banks and Kose led a small group onto it. Those with big horses with lots of stamina would swim the Moonflow.

Adenar pranced beneath me, feeling the excitement very acutely. I placed my gloved hand on her sweaty neck, murmuring sweet nothings under my breath in a vain attempt to prevent her from causing disruption.

"She's not excited, Paine." Baralai murmured, putting his own hand against Adenar's fur. "She's terrified."

I re-read Adenar's body language. Her rump had tensed, her tail coming right down against her buttocks like a cowering dog. Her ears were back, almost along her neck, and her head was pulled tightly in. I sighed.

"You know you have to wait." Baralai said, trying to calm me down.

I didn't answer. I gritted my teeth to prevent a sarcastic response. To my surprise, Baralai moved his hand from Adenar's shoulder to the bare skin on my arm and gripped it, gently. He said nothing, but a small shock ran up my arm and through my spine. I tensed.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"I've put you under the cloak." Baralai explained, a small grin managing to make its way past his anxiety. "I'll keep you under until we go to join the others. It feels funny, doesn't it?"

Again, I remained silent. I presumed that he needed to touch bare skin for it to work, so I removed one of my gloves and took his hand from my arm. I grasped it firmly in my fingers, which betrayed my apprehension a little but comforted me quite a bit. He squeezed back.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" he asked, soothingly.

I nodded curtly. Actually, I felt sick to my stomach. The weight of a task never really dawns on you until you begin it, and the fact that I was going to die that day suddenly hit home.

More Assassins came and went but it all seemed like a blur to me; all that I was conscious of was that this could be my last day in Spira and that I was holding Baralai's hand.

"Wouldn't Nooj love to be in my shoes?" I found myself commenting at some stage, when the last group of riders was halfway across the Moonflow.

"Not funny." Baralai replied, contradicting his statement with a twitching grin. "He has to keep himself alive for LeBlanc."

"I'd take that as my cue to snuff it." I retorted.

"So would I."

"Baralai!"

"What?" Baralai looked at me, confused.

"I never thought I'd hear you say something as cruel as that." I laughed, staring at him in amazement.

"Well, it was worth it. I made tough old Dr. P laugh."

The nickname didn't sound so bad when it came with his voice. It seemed to take on a light, carefree quality, rather than the half-mocking tone of Gippal's voice. Gippal, who was somewhere in the machine ranks on our side of the Moonflow, raging heavy gunfire on the other side.

Baralai's thoughts had obviously drifted towards Gippal and the machines, too. "I don't like guns. There's no honour in mindless, aimless destruction."

After some thought, I came up with a reply. "That's why we're using them against Anansi." I said. "If he took over, imagine the things he would do with machines."

"He doesn't _need_ machines." Baralai responded. "His mind is more deadly than anything Gippal or Shinra could come up with."

The shoopuf returned and we, alongside some of the Al Bhed, Spirans and machina, boarded. Adenar and Pippin weren't exactly pleased with this arrangement, and I endured more than my fair share of bites. Baralai and I struggled to keep hold of each other.

_We're done here._ Drak told me. _We go onwards, to Guadosalam. We've set up a defence along the road to make sure we aren't driven back by attacks from Guadosalam._

_We're on the shoopuf with some machines. We'll be right over. _I replied, before relaying the information to Baralai. "Maybe we'll see a little action yet."

"Don't get careless." Baralai reprimanded.

"Who? Me?" I replied, a grin touching my face, remembering the times I fought fiends with the Gullwings.

We landed, the horses more than happy to be off the giant mammal, and calmed our horses down with a canter up and down the path. Idle Assassins had flown back over the Moonflow and were helping to transfer the machina and Spirans over, as it was taking far too long. Baralai would later remark that I was almost continuously growling with boredom and stress.

At last, the front line broke forward and made their charge for Guadosalam. The whole mounted group charged together, with a large number of fliers. Guadosalam was only a small place; the Assassins would be overrun. Baralai and I followed them, unable to break contact with each other but not wanting to get left behind. We heard the sounds of war echo out from the passage into the town, but no one came galloping back out. It seemed we were successful. Besides, most of them had probably come out to help at the Moonflow. For all we knew, reinforcements were coming back up the Thunder Plains right at that moment.

"We'll need to camp overnight somewhere!" I called to Baralai over the noise. "We won't be able to take Bevelle in the same day!"

"I agree. We're all getting tired. I'll tell Drak."

Guadosalam wasn't big so there was a huge pile-up at the entrance, only the fliers managing to get through at full speed. In the distance, we could hear the rounds of machina firing at the last stragglers in the Moonflow. Soon enough, a whisper came through the crowd; we would travel halfway down the Thunder Plains, then set up a line and rest there. In the rain. _Great._ Still, if the Assassins decided to have a proper battle, at least we would meet them in a vaguely suitable place. I would have thought the Calm Lands better, but I suppose it would have been too hard to get past Bevelle.

Finally, I managed to squeeze Adenar through the gaps between the bigger horses and we rode into Guadosalam, leaving Baralai stranded somewhere on Pippin. He had been reluctant to let go of my hand, but in the end, he'd had no choice. No doubt he'd manage to get through, eventually; Pippin was a fairly lithe, skinny thing, though tall.

It was easy to tell the enemy Assassins from my own side; they were dressed in similar dark uniforms, whilst we wore whatever we had managed to snatch as we ran away. I charged forwards and took the road up to the Farplane, where a small group of Assassins were being picked off. My sword felt comforting in my hands as I twirled it with familiar artistry, facing the challenge of the similarly trained guards with a strange, numb lack of nervousness. I knew I was going to die, so I guess the prospect of battle didn't scare me anymore.

_Don't get careless._ Baralai reminded me. I could see now that he had a point.

One of the Assassins burst from the cornered group and I took him head on, my sword and his metal staff sending showers of sparks. Our horses circled each other as our weapons clashed, my heavier and mightier sword having an advantage over his flimsy weapon, not a particularly well made version. I had the upper hand from earlier on; his defence broke and I brought my sword crashing down towards his neck.

His horse bolted as her rider hit the ground.

The rest of the group had been dispatched so I left Adenar to her own devices with the stray horses and flew towards the chateau. I joined the stream through the front door and helped to eradicate the last remnants of the opposing party. An Assassin flew at me from the side and we locked on to each other – my blade against his. He was more powerful and I fell back momentarily against his strength, but I had confidence in my defence so I bided my time.

Another flew at me from the side so I fell to the floor and jumped back again, using the momentum to put some power against them. I was too hasty; the one grabbed my leg as I flew past and dragged me down, the other swinging his sword at my chest. I brought my own weapon in between us just in time and swung at the hand hanging on to my boot. Thrown off balance and becoming clumsy, I somehow managed to scrape myself at the same time. I gasped as I drew blood, but had to react quickly as the other Assassin had come back for more.

The strangest thing was that they were overpowering me but I wasn't afraid.

"What did Baralai tell you!" shouted a furious voice, as Drak sped past me and took out one of the Assassins with a furious round of bullets. He turned to me, his face flushed. "Now get back!"

I stared off with him for a brief second, before angrily conceding and flying straight back out the way I came. I had to stop as soon as I hit our side; dragging an injured limb through the air is _not_ very pleasant. I called for Adenar and she came. Awkwardly, I threw myself on her back and went to find the spellcasters and nurses.

_Paine!_ Baralai's voice echoed in my skull. I grimaced inwardly. Drak had told him.

_It's just a scratch._ I insisted.

_Yes, and I don't suppose that scratch will still be there tomorrow when we have to take on Anansi?_

I froze, then groaned. _Reckless idiot._ I told myself.

_Too right. _Baralai replied. _I'm coming back there to…well, I'd love to say 'to kick your sorry butt' but I think I'll leave that to Kose and Drak._

As if on cue, Kose appeared at my side, a small cut on her forehead and her arm looking particularly stiff, but otherwise concentrating her energies on total animosity towards me. "And I thought you were the sensible one!" Kose huffed.

"It's not-"

"Serious? Have you _looked_ yet?"

I looked down at the wound and gasped. I had succeeded in giving myself a six-inch-long mutilation which went too deep for comfort. Blood trickled down the side of my boot, where I'd cut through the fastenings and the leather was flapping around.

Kose sighed in exasperation and cast some vague magic on the wound; such injuries were not easily healed by magic, but the flow of blood slowed down.

"Why don't I just take my life now, if I'm the 'ultimate sacrifice'?"

"Don't!" Kose immediately shouted, putting a hand on my sword. "A lot of us are unsure that we've got it right. If you don't share pain, then why should you share death?"

"Prophecies never make sense."

"You're wrong, Paine. They _always_ make sense, in the end. They're never _easy._"

At that moment, Baralai landed next to me, a dazed and pained expression on his face.

"Don't say anything, Lai." Kose quickly said. "I've had a word with her and I think the mental butt-whooping she's going to give _herself_ will be enough."

To my shock, Baralai had removed his robes and was waving at her to shut up. "That's not why I'm here."

He turned his back on us and clumsily removed his shirt, trying not to use one arm too much. It took me a few seconds, through my distraction at his bare skin, to register the fact that he'd asked if anything was wrong with his shoulder. Tentatively, I removed my glove again and touched the skin over his shoulder and shoulder blade. "Everything's in order."

"It suddenly started aching like I'd been punched by a chocobo eater." Baralai muttered. "It's completely out of use, until the pain goes."

"Oh, that's just great." Kose threw her hands up in the air. "Now both of you are out of action!"

"By tomorrow I should be able to fly with it!" I insisted. "We'll get to Anansi."

"These episodes don't usually last very long." Baralai added. "The pain's already going. I should be rather functional by the morning."

"You'd better be!" Kose gritted her teeth, fighting the urge to sob. "Because if you two get killed, then that's all hope gone. The whole army's marching on the bare prospect of you being able to take out Anansi before they have to take out the rest of their whole race. Lots of them have family on the other side, and they don't want to fight _them_."

I looked at Baralai, a spark in my eye. I had a plan. We would give them a chance if it were the last thing we could do. Hopefully, we would also get Anansi alone. We just had to hope that our injuries would heal quickly, or everyone would die.

How _stupid_ could I have been?


	19. Sacrifice

The Warriors: Sacrifice

I woke up to a familiar electric current passing through my skin.

Before I could say anything, Baralai had pressed a cold finger to my lips. "Shh. Don't wake everyone up."

Through eyes blurred from sleep, I looked around at my surroundings. I was in the makeshift tent that we'd put up, but such was the pitch black that I could tell it must have been deep night. I could only see Baralai in the flashes of lightning that passed. He, too, looked groggy and tired.

"He's in Macalania." Baralai whispered, excitedly.

My eyes widened and I quickly sat up. "Let's go. Take him out now."

Baralai nodded his head solemnly. "Drak and Kose are coming. He has a companion."

"Only one." I summarised, relieved. Only one, unless there were more like Baralai that we didn't know about and could shield themselves from detection.

I scurried off the floor, feeling suddenly more alive than I ever had done and only just remembering that I had to hold Baralai's hand. We found Drak and Kose at the front line of the army and met with reflective silence. Without a word, we left the army on foot, crossing soundlessly through the Thunder Plains. We stole as many items as we could from the abandoned Agency, even though we all knew we wouldn't have much time to use potions in this battle.

Macalania glistened under the night sky, a spooky world of twisting hollows and dimmed lights. I could feel Anansi's presence now – we'd previously been relying on Drak's word. He wasn't hard to find. Along the main pathway, he was waiting behind a grand, large tree.

"I knew you'd come." Anansi smirked, his words directed at Drak. "But I didn't expect you to let _her_ come."

Kose looked startled.

"I could say the same for you." Drak replied, spiking my curiosity. I could feel the other mind nearby, though it – she? – was out of sight.

"I would have thought you'd savour the chance to ravish Spira before coming for us." Baralai snarled.

Anansi chuckled, shaking his head. "I admit, taking out half of the people under my rule would have been quite an experience, but imagine the looks in their eyes when all hope is gone, along with you, and the real army is headed for them."

"You'd kill your own people with such ease." I stated, incredulously.

Anansi looked at Drak, amusedly.

"They're not his 'people'." Drak sighed. "Most of them are half-Assassin or not Assassin at all. It's just an easier way for him to take over Spira, if he takes you out then wipes out most of this army. Don't underestimate him. Though he seems a cold killer, he has his motives."

"Well said, Drak." Anansi replied, almost fondly. "I shall take that as a compliment."

"Would Celeste?" Drak shot back.

Anansi bristled and his fist tensed into a ball. I was tempted to step back in fear; I had never seen Anansi truly riled. He stepped forward a few menacing paces and glared at Drak. "Don't presume to understand people you never met." Anansi hissed. It was the coldest, most spine-chilling sound I had ever heard.

_Celeste? _I mouthed at Baralai, who had let go of my hand as we appeared before Anansi. Baralai shrugged. Perhaps Celeste was the one nearby. But then, Anansi had spoken in past tense, which implied Celeste no longer lived.

"I think we've talked enough." I murmured, drawing my sword.

Anansi slowly relaxed. He looked at me with the most amused and patronising leer that I had ever encountered, which made my blood boil and my jaw tense. He began to snigger, the snigger growing to a laugh and the laugh growing to a howl of entertainment. "You are so foolish!" Anansi declared. "So foolish and young, all of you!" Drak is the wisest, and he's almost the youngest! I would have thought _you_, of all of them, most likely to figure it out!" Anansi told me. "But yet, you are the most naïve!"

Kose looked stunned. "You know what this prophecy is about!" she spoke up, for the first time.

"Drak is rubbing off on you." Anansi acknowledged. "It's just a small matter of language."

This meant very little to Kose and me, but Drak descended into deep thought. I was distracted as I felt Anansi reach out and put pressure from the air around on my ribcage. I fought him off, and gave him a disparaging look. "I'm not as weak as I was."

"We'll see." Anansi shrugged, looking nonchalant.

Almost before I could think, Anansi had drawn his knives and flown at me, slashing the three-foot-long scalpels at my neck. I flew into the air, caught by surprise, and Anansi followed me. I felt the wound on my leg send pangs along my shin but I tried to ignore them, stopping in the air to meet Anansi's attack. Baralai, faster than me, was following him up.

We twisted in and out of the canopy, each of us using the darkness to our advantage and Baralai holding a great advantage over all of us. With his mind invisible, it was hard for Anansi to remember what battling without sensing minds was like. He coped annoyingly well; again and again he beat us away, sapping at our strength and our courage. He soon realised that my leg and Baralai's shoulder were injured and went for those places. We barely managed to land a hit on him.

"Still so eager?" Anansi laughed, tauntingly.

A different shape shot out behind him and knocked him off balance. Anansi growled as Drak stopped and came back down again, faster than a speeding bullet. I had never seen Drak fight before – he was so much better than Baralai or I had ever dreamed to be. Catching blows with Anansi, the two entered into a murderous deadlock, neither quite sustaining the upper hand and neither letting their guard down.

Baralai and I looked at each other for a moment, then swooped towards the two, bearing down on Anansi. His movements became strangely enhanced and he emitted a slightly green aura as he became quicker and stronger, able to take all three of us at once with alarming skill. It had to be the girl with him. _Kose!_ I called, but she was ahead of me.

_Already on it._ Kose replied, then a few seconds later changed tack, sounding very confused. _Umm…it has nothing to do with her. It's all Anansi_.

Well, if Anansi had that talent, then surely I did, too? It wasn't hard to work out how to speed up my blows, it was only hard to get used to the speed. Anansi didn't seem to care much that I'd developed this ability, he simply fell back on his defence more and more.

Suddenly, Anansi's knives glowed with a strange, orange light. He flew up into the air, too fast for us to catch him. A small liquid dot fell from him and landed on my hand. Feeling it sizzle through my skin, I shook it off, hissing in pain. We all jumped back as more and more fell then the empty handles of Anansi's knives clattered down. _Something had melted them!_

"Miss me?" Kose grinned, flying into view. _She had melted them! _I hadn't realised this was a talent of hers. "Ok, he's going to go off and get something else to fight with. He'll find it fast. Now quickly, the girl mentioned something about Baralai's eleventh birthday, unicorns, and the language being old."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Baralai asked.

"I don't know. She says that we're wrong about-"

Unbelievably fast, Anansi swooped down from the heavens, this time sporting a bayonet and dagger. Drak went up first and Kose followed. I tried to fly, then wobbled and fell to the ground. The pain in my leg had re-awoken, flared up, and the hours-old wound had opened again. I cursed, silently.

"Paine?"

"Go fight, Baralai." I waved him off. "I need to think."

Instead of fighting, he carefully picked me up in his arms, put the barrier over us, then silently stole away to the other side of the woods. We came to rest in the hollow opposite the other side of the spring, where Yuna had her private memories. I hit him the whole way, insisting that they wouldn't survive without us.

"They will." Baralai countered. "Drak is planning to back off any minute now and lead him on a chase."

But something went wrong. Kose's mind suddenly dulled. It didn't die, it didn't become invisible; she'd been knocked out. Drak's quickly followed and a loud cry echoed through the woods. As it died away, deadly silence ensued. Baralai and I stared at each other, wide-eyed and fearful.

"What are we going to do?" Baralai whispered.

I searched for Anansi; he had gone to the Travel Agency. He was being very clever. He wasn't going to waste energy searching us out when we could constantly hide from him. He thought we'd be dumb enough to search him out ourselves. It was tempting.

Baralai sat me on the ground and lay his dark hand against my pale leg. He was no White Mage, that I knew, but he could cast a small amount of healing spells. He managed to stop the blood flowing quite so quickly before allowing me to stand, albeit making me lean on him.

"Don't let go." Baralai pressed.

Slowly, we walked through Macalania. As we came across fiends in our path, Baralai persuaded me to let him fly me to Drak and Kose. I hated the state I was in; I hated being dependent and I hated, in particular, Baralai seeing me as someone who needed help. Even worse, someone who needed _protecting_.

We came to where they had both fallen unconscious. Thankfully, Drak was beginning to come round. I kneeled down next to Kose to check her pulse; it wasn't strong, but it wasn't too weak, and her breathing was slowly returning to normal. I stood up.

"Drak, don't talk." I whispered, as Baralai helped to steady Drak. "You and Kose know what's going on…"

"Wait, don't ask him anything yet." Baralai interrupted. "As soon as he speaks, Anansi will know we're here. We need to think things through."

Drak looked at me with vague, unfocused eyes. We waited a while for him to clear his head, before speaking to each other again.

"What's significant about your eleventh birthday?" I asked Baralai.

"I was paralysed, for the whole day. No reason." Baralai told us, looking at Drak. "I just woke up and couldn't move. It was my first episode of that pain we experienced yesterday. Nothing was wrong with me; I was in fine physical condition, but I had this excruciating pain in my back. I was bed-bound for a week, and even then I was still in pain for a month."

Drak thought carefully, then fetched a stick and wrote in the dirt. With rapt attention, we stared the message.

_That day Anansi tamed unicorn.  
__Broke back in effort._

My mind was so focused on everything else that I didn't make the connection. Nor did Baralai. Drak didn't seem to understand at first, but suddenly his eyes widened and he looked at us, desperately, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Drak, explain. _Please._"

He bent down again and continued. _Prophetic bond._

Things _began_ to click.

"That's why I don't have it! Baralai feels the pain of the bond!" I gasped, looking at Baralai.

"It still doesn't make sense." Baralai replied. When I said nothing, he sighed. "Think about it – why would _I_ have that bond and not you? What's significant about me?"

Drak was scribbling desperately.

_Told you it was too easy.  
__We were wrong.  
__I'm so, so, sorry.  
__It's all making sense now!_

"Drak! Just tell us!"

_Prophecy old. Old speech. Love of her companion = love FOR her companion.  
__Love for companion reverse sacrifice._

I heard Baralai gasp. It wasn't a relieved one, as if it had been revealed that I loved him; it was as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Don't make her do this." Baralai pleaded, falling to his knees. "Please! _Please_ say she mustn't! _Please…_"

"Drak, I don't understand!" I spat.

_Ultimate sacrifice not yourself; not hard, not ultimate.  
__Hardest thing to sacrifice – one most loved._

A cold, iron weight settled in my heart.

I tugged on Baralai's hand. "We need to go!"

I flew forward into the air, my leg dragging on the cold floor. Baralai only just found the will to fly, while I could hear Drak's agonising cry echoing out behind us.

"I'm sorry!"

Anansi flew back to Drak faster than a speeding bullet and thank goodness we had a head start or he would have caught us there. Drak's mental signature went quiet again. Anansi flew back to his spring as I pulled Baralai towards the Thunder Plains. He dragged his feet along the ground, trying to make me stop. I kicked him in the face several times, desperately trying to stop him from fighting, but I couldn't keep it up.

I whipped round to face him. "I won't do it!"

"Paine…"

"I _won't_!"

"And you'll sacrifice _Spira_ to keep me alive?" Baralai asked, in an infuriatingly calm tone of voice.

I went to reply, but my voice broke before I could speak and no sound came out. Why did he have to be _right?_

"Paine…" Baralai shook his head, looking at me forlornly. "I had steeled myself since the beginning for seeing you…die. It would have been the hardest thing I had ever seen and the sight…the _guilt_ of seeing you die in my arms would have destroyed me if I hadn't thought of every possible curse and legend that has brought a soul back to life. I had dreamed up a million ways of saving your soul."

"I can't." I groaned, through gritted teeth, gripping his hands like a lost child. "I _can't_. Not you."

"_Listen_ to me. Even with all that, I wouldn't have been able to let Anansi raise the most insubstantial blow to if I hadn't been terrified of failing you. I knew that if I didn't let you die, you would never have spoken to me again. I wouldn't have been able to _bear_ your disapproval, for however long we had lasted under Anansi's reign. Don't fail _me, _now. I'll never forgive you."

I snorted bitterly. "You will."

"I would, though we won't last long enough for that to happen with _him._"

I lowered my head. "How will I revive you?"

Baralai laughed. "Ask Drak! Yevon, only _he_ seems to have half a brain in this mad world."

I half-laughed, half-sobbed. Baralai reached up to touch my face, stroking a cold thumb over my wet cheek. We met eyes and smiled; what else were we supposed to do? If I'd broken down crying, I would never have mustered up the courage for the act.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered.

"There's no need to apologise." Baralai chuckled. His hand left my cheek, and my smile left with it. His wrist went back to my sword hand, resting on the hilt of the unholy weapon. "I know you're strong enough to do this. Just summon up that steel heart that you created in your Gullwings years."

_It wasn't that simple!_ I wanted to yell, but my mouth froze as he tried to put me in position. My arm froze, too, and he groaned. I shook my head, desperately, not wanting to face the truth of what was about to happen. I stopped as his other hand found my cheek. His lips found mine.

I gasped and my heart put new meaning to the word 'raced'. It was beautiful; there was nothing urgent or rash about his actions. It was chaste and simple, and though it lasted, I was left with a sinking feeling as he pulled back. His chocolate eyes, his beautifully deep eyes, bore into mine with such a pleading and sorrowful look.

"Don't fail me now, my beautiful survivor." Baralai whispered in my ear.

I took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. I smiled, wistfully. "Do you use these methods in your politics?"

"You're a test-drive." Baralai grinned.

"You're a villain, you know that?"

"Just kill me."

I stared at him and his suddenly demanding eyes and something moved within me.

In a far too swift movement, I drove the sword through his chest.

A startled, stifled cry came from Baralai, but it died down. I instantly panicked, realising what a senseless thing I'd done and how stupid I'd been. I stopped breathing as I watched the spark leaving his eyes. But then he smiled at me and mouthed two words.

_Thank you_.

Gingerly, I put a hand behind his head and lowered the tall man to the ground. I threw my sword away from me. It made me sick just to look at the crimson that now stained it.

"Don't try to talk." I told him, trying to stay calm. "We'll have plenty of time to talk later. We will. Of course we will."

He stopped breathing.

My own lungs gave in. Instantaneously, an inhuman and agonised cry pierced the still, Macalania air. I felt Anansi bullet towards me for a brief second, before his mental signature disappeared and he hit the ground a few trees away. I didn't even look as his body rolled across the path.

My lungs refused to let me breath and instead my tears decided to break for the first time in nearly three years; hot, acidic creatures that burnt my ashen face, but hurt nothing like the needles in my chest.

And it was strangely peaceful. The trees seemed to emitting a faint ringing sound. It was a strange, mournful, beautiful sound. The shining blue of the trees suddenly seemed split into a hundred different brilliant shades, glimmering across every still leaf.

The silence was broken harshly by the distant clank of someone fiddling with pieces of machina. I froze, then jumped up to my feet. _That noise had come from the camp_, and I had heard it!

The conversation with Drak the previous night came flooding back to me. Anansi's powers had now left me, because he was dead and the bond was broken. True, I could no longer locate Drak or Kose's presence because I was a half-blood and my powers weren't strong enough. _But I could hear their hearts beating. _I didn't have Anansi's powers anymore, but my own had come back into being!

I hovered for a moment, not wanting to leave Baralai. I took to the air and, slower than I had been able to before, flew to the duo. Kose was awake and I yelled at her, "Fetch the Gullwings and Warriors! Now!"

Kose stared at me, stunned that I was still alive. "W-where's Baralai?" she asked, terrified.

"Dead! Now go!"

Kose's eyes widened and, although she didn't quite understand what was going on, she flew away. I flew back to Baralai, thanking sweet Farplane that fiends hadn't eaten him. I knelt back by his side and cradled his head in my lap. "I know how to do it. Hold in there, and don't let go. Wherever you are."

A minute crawled by and I became terrified that there was some unspoken time limit – what if Baralai became unreachable? What if my power only worked within a certain time?

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I sighed in relief as Drak bent over me. "If you need to, draw on my strength for the moment. I'm still a little dizzy, but I should be able to help until they arrive."

I breathed out, thinking. I put a hand to Baralai's chest wound, wincing as I felt the dark liquid against my white hand, and closed my eyes. Some sort of strength flowed through my body, from every part of my being, into this hand. At first, it was only weak, as I tried to remember how this ability worked. I frantically hoped I could remember enough to revive him.

"You won't." Drak responded to my thoughts.

I laughed, harshly. "Are my barriers that fragile?"

"Yes, but that's not the point. _'Only the love of her companion'_, remember?" Drak pointed out.

I growled through gritted teeth. How on earth was I supposed to incorporate love for him?

"Just tell him." Drak suggested. "And the others are here."

"I know. I heard them."

After all, to my new highly sensitive ears, they sounded like a herd of shoopufs. Kose landed in front of them and halted their disorderly charge. Drak ordered them to all link hands and make contact with me. With my other hand, I took Kose's, seeking more than just physical strength from her.

"Just one thing more to do, Paine." Drak reminded me.

I sighed. The blood around the wound had slowly evaporated into the air and the skin was now beginning to heal, but I was hardly igniting life into Baralai. Slowly, I leant down to his ear.

"Brace yourselves." Drak muttered to the others. I heard them all squeeze each other's hands tightly.

I took a deep breath. Although these were the truest words I'd ever spoken, they were also the hardest to say. After all, the most important things to say are the most difficult and realising that doesn't make it any easier.

"_I love you."_

A wave of searing light burst from my palm and erupted two ways. It engulfed both Baralai and us. Instantly, I felt the energy needed for my very soul being gently sucked away. A couple of people broke the chain in shock and the demand increased significantly. I yelled at them and they fell back into place, realising Baralai's life was more important than not feeling fatigue.

I grimaced and closed my eyes against the sheer force of the light, then opened them, wanting to watch whatever was happening. The light around Baralai had turned a warm orange colour and rivers flew in and out of Baralai's body, doing unimaginable workings to his soul and being. But it would take more than that to bring him to life.

"For Yevon's sake, I love you!" I bellowed, aggravated by how little was being done. The demand for life increased but it only made me shout more. "I need you now! Don't you dare leave me! You're only twenty-one! Get back here now!"

A burst from my very heart put a stop to the light and the flowing life force. The light around Baralai remained and turned a faint blue colour against the background of the trees. Then it died down into the ground, and silence fell.

Baralai didn't move.

"Paine?" Gippal asked me, his voice a meagre trace of the brash and cocky teen I knew.

I hated dead bodies, but this was _Baralai; _I would have done anything more to bring him to life. I gestured to the others to turn around, and they shuffled in the opposite direction. Then I kissed him back. His lips were cold and leaden, but even as our lips touched the warmth seemed to spring back into them. I pulled away in shock. My heart pounded. I put my head to his chest, listening to the fascinating and intricate workings as his body clicked into gear. Hurriedly, I leant forward and kissed him again.

His heart started beating. A second later, Baralai gasped his way back to Spira.


	20. Did You Even Have To Ask?

**I WUV YOU GUYS! *glompsob***

**Your reviews were **_**amazing**_** last chapter. I seriously didn't deserve those. I was so paranoid about getting that chapter right…but it seemed to vaguely work! Kurissyma San Tybalt, DragonGirl323, salanghae and Yuna of Besaid, I bow before you. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.**

**I'm going to put so much foreshadowing in here that you'll be paranoid about every sentence. Why? We'll see.**

**And now? It's fluff time.**

The Warriors: Did You Even Have To Ask?

I was in a light coma for a week, but it was worth it.

As we walked back to the camp, supporting Baralai as his strength slowly returned and his body re-awoke, the adrenaline that had kept my system running burned out and I slowly became more and more fatigued until I collapsed on my 'bed' and didn't wake up the next morning. They didn't tell Baralai until the next day, which I thought was a bit cruel, but understandable. They had to let him recover before telling him such news. Baralai would worry his heart out.

Still, I recovered in due course, ever the 'beautiful survivor'.

Anansi's army had fallen into disarray after his death. It simply took a few of our infiltrators to take out the generals who were still faithful to Anansi before the army surrendered. Mostly, they were just glad to be free of Anansi and to see their families again.

In an effort to take Baralai's mind off my recovery, Drak and Kose gave him errands to run as they and others helped to get the Assassins back on track. Drak insisted that they adopt a new name, as 'Assassins' had too many negative connotations. Finding a name was always going to be hard work.

At first, some of the elders asked if they could rename the people after me, but I refused; I hadn't really done much. I told them that Drak had done most of the work and the guiding, but Drak also refused to have anything named after him. In the end, I allowed them to rename Citadel after my mother. Adenar is a far fairer name for such a place and it's not too hard to go from 'Assassins' to 'Adenians'.

So now, I'm half-Adenian, which makes me feel warm inside. At least it's a sort of recompense for those killed by Anansi for fleeing for peace.

Many of my fellow 'new recruits', or 'revolutionaries' as we're being called, found family they didn't know existed within the Adenians. Kose located her long-lost brother, a twenty-year-old who physically reminded me a lot of Nooj, without the machina. I was almost glad that I didn't find a secret sibling. It would have been terrifying to have someone so close to you that you didn't even know about. Still, I suppose it would have been nice to have a last remaining family member to turn to – as far as I know, my mother and father had no siblings.

A knock at the door roused me from my thoughts. "It's me." Baralai called.

"Enter." I replied, getting up from my window seat. I was staying at the Youth League Headquarters, along with the Gullwings, Warriors, Gippal, Baralai, and several prominent Adenians.

Baralai entered the room, looking shifty, and hung around in the doorway. "Can I talk to you?"

"No, you may sit in the corner and be quiet." I smirked.

Baralai chuckled a little and walked towards me, stopping in the middle of the room. His hands were behind his back, obviously concealing something. "You may want to sit down." Baralai told me.

"I'll stand."

Baralai nodded his head. _Fair enough,_ he seemed to be thinking. I couldn't read his thoughts so easily anymore, which frustrated me, though he often made them louder so I could hear them. "I have two things to discuss with you. First is this."

I looked at him, confused. Slowly and slightly awkwardly, he produced an all-too-familiar metal object from behind his back. I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him, staring out the window onto Kilika Port. I was _not_ going on an emotional trip back to that night.

"I don't want it, Baralai."

"You can't reject it after all these years, just because you used it for _that deed_." Baralai argued, stepping closer. "I'm here now and I know you secretly want it back."

I gritted my teeth. Damn him for being right.

"Yes, it will continually remind you of that night. Yes, it will be hard at first. But I know you, Paine, and so does everyone else; you're strong enough to cope."

I huffed a little. _So I'm not allowed a little weakness? _I thought, bitterly.

"If you'll let yourself have one, you're welcome to it." Baralai countered, a grin creeping into his voice.

I turned around and glared at him. Since when did he get so good at arguing with me? I paused for a moment, resisting, then turned around and in one swoop had snatched the sword from his hands, saying, "Give me that…" in an annoyed tone of voice. I walked away from him to the centre of the room, turning my back on him again, and looked at it. He'd obviously had someone clean it, or maybe done it himself; the metal was gleaming like a new-wrought sword. All traces of Baralai's blood had disappeared long ago. It made the bile rise in my throat just to think about it.

I turned around to face him again, concerned. "Are you ok?"

Baralai looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

I paused for a minute, running over what I wanted to say. "I've confessed _my_ emotions about that night, but…_you've_ never said anything." I shrugged. "It must have hurt."

Baralai lowered his eyes. It was obvious I'd struck a chord. "You're right. I may…I may have smiled, but I was scared. You had no time to think anything through. I was so proud of you, but it still hurt that you were actually able to resist your guilt and kill me. And I was _worried_…most of all, worried and terrified that it would be the last few minutes I ever spent with you." Baralai faltered. He ran an awkward hand through his hair. "That's all I have to say."

I smiled a little at him, trying my awkward best to be comforting.

"I have a favour to ask." Baralai said, brushing of the last subject.

"Then ask it."

"After the declaration of the Adenian Lord," Baralai began, "I am meeting an old…_friend_. He was kidnapped by the Assassins when I was fourteen and he was twelve. I thought he'd died of an illness." Baralai paused, thinking. "Anyway, I could use a little emotional support."

"This _friend_." I replied, looking at him as if he thought I was stupid. "I'm guessing this friend is actually a relative."

Baralai rolled his eyes. _You're too perceptive._ He told me. "Rosopher is my brother."

My eyes widened. "You never told us?"

Baralai shook his head. "It was only two years before the Crimson Squad. When I joined, I decided to push it out of my head and be strong. _Learn_ to be strong."

"I'll be there." I interrupted, nodding my head. _Losing_ _a brother_. I couldn't imagine anything like that; I was an only child. Or at least, I was pretty sure I was.

Baralai breathed a sigh of relief, breaking into a nervous smile. "Thank you."

"Did you even have to ask?"

**[Luca Stadium]**

I had accepted at first when they nominated me to be Adenian leader, but I withdrew secretly a day later. The responsibility was not for me, and though I had helped to save them in the darkest hour, I felt no more duty to the people who had been absent from my life for nineteen years. Baralai had also withdrawn, but he had done so publicly. So, standing in line with the nominees and Baralai, I was safe in the knowledge that I was not going to be the one announced in the speech. After all, they didn't know that it would be _me_ delivering the speech.

Some senior official was at the front, prattling on about peace and light and regret for what had happened. I was trying to remain calm, horribly aware of how packed Luca stadium was, with Adenians and half-Adenians and non-Adenians alike. Yuna thought I would make a good public speaker? What I actually made was a pile of nerves.

"Early on in the selection stage," the Adenian drawled, "One of our most loved candidates bowed out, with the request that her withdrawal be kept secret. Instead, all she asked was the honour of declaring who our Lord shall be. We granted her this wish. She also has other things to communicate to you, to Adenians and the rest of Spira alike. Please will you welcome the Lady Paine."

I gritted my teeth. _Don't call me Lady._

The others stared at me in shock but I calmly – on the outside – stepped forward to take my place at the front of the balcony. A cheer rose up as my dark form appeared, and I awkwardly held up a hand for silence, trying to imitate the great public speakers of my time.

"I appreciate," I began, trying to project my usually quiet tone into the microphone, "that many of you have a lot of questions for me."

The crowd fell silent, realising that some big confessions were about to come.

I sighed and shook my head. "I don't answer a lot of questions, but people deserve to know some explanations, for the sake of destroying rumours and lies. First of all, I didn't run away over a year ago to flee the media – that was just a stupid excuse. I could have easily kicked their butts for the rest of my life."

The old Adenian next to me hissed through his teeth, but I went on. The audience chuckled slightly at my bluntness.

"My friends will tell you that I am not the most affectionate person in the world, but they may also tell you that I feel loyalty and love just as keenly as any other. My experiences of love were rarely good during my youth. Every time I grew close and loving to someone, death or circumstance snatched them away from me. My parents, my orphanage friends, my teenage companions and Nooj, Gippal and Baralai were all taken from me in the harshest of ways. I learnt not to love too much, but at the time I ran away my lesson wasn't standing and I was far too close to the Gullwings and…others. Not wanting any harm to befall them, I left. I was foolish to believe that this would continue for my whole life, but I am only nineteen. I've known nothing else."

The audience listened in sympathetic silence as I paused, looking at the crumpled piece of paper in my hands. "You also want to know who saved the Adenians in the end?" I asked, changing the subject.

A cheer steadily rose from down beneath. "In truth? The prophecy may have been about Baralai and me but we were both as blind as bats. Without the help of some extraordinary friends, we would have came to nothing. Kose and Drak helped us to understand the prophecy and helped to distract Anansi whilst we figured out what we were doing wrong. Our friends helped us to overcome the city. Ola helped us to find sleep where we could find none." I smiled fondly. "Gippal, Rikku and the Al Bhed gave us weapons. The Gullwings made us realise the state of Spira. Besaid, Kilika and Luca put up with the fleeing Assassins." If we referred to our past, we still used the word 'Assassins'. "Our horses, Pippin, Adenar, Spirit – they were our rocks in our hour of need, just as predicted. Many of you would have helped us, in your own little ways. If the Adenians are going to hail anyone as their saviour, they should hail themselves."

An uproarious applause bellowed from the stadium, and I couldn't help but smile. I meant every word of it.

"But my confessions are finished now, unless you want me to confess undying love for Baralai." I joked. The audience, now thoroughly happy, laughed cheerfully.

"Please do!" Baralai heckled from behind me. I waved at him to shut up as the audience continued to laugh.

"One of our saviours showed particular bravery and wisdom during our 'revolution'." I continued, and the audience hushed as they realised what was coming. "He tutored Baralai and I from the start. He was the first to point out where we were making mistakes and helped to lead us through the worst. He was brave enough to stand up to his master of seven years, Anansi, and fought with the experience and strength of a warrior thrice his age. His wisdom is more than the oldest priest could ever hope to achieve and these reasons are what have convinced us to put him in charge of us all. Maybe he doesn't have the experience of leading an army, but he has the knowledge and understanding to pull us through. Adenians, Spirans, Al Bheds and fellow half-bloods," I announced, grinning as I did so, happy with the choice, "I give you your Lord…"

I turned around and gestured at the young man, who stared at me with shocked eyes.

"…Drak Equus."

**[Backstage]**

"They made a good choice."

I was trying to talk about anything and everything, which wasn't working. Baralai's body was tense, his jaw locked, and he was pacing up and down the corridor as if his firstborn son was being born in one of the rooms.

"You'll make a great peace ambassador." I told him. He had resigned from his post as Praetor not long after returning to Spira, handed the post to Isaaru and had given his efforts to helping the Assassins.

Baralai snorted.

"You have the right skills. You were always too nice to be praetor, but this will be great."

"Paine, as flattered as I am, you're not helping."

Gladly, I fell quiet. However, I couldn't help but be concerned by his persistent pacing. I walked away from the wall I was leaning on and fell into step beside him. He gave me a queer look and turned the other way, but I followed him. He turned away again, only to find me mirroring his step. With an aggravated groan he turned to face me. I slipped my hand into his.

"Why are you so worried?"

"If it was your mother coming instead of my brother, how would you feel?" Baralai retorted.

I looked at the floor, understanding what he meant. Only, my mother had been absent far longer than Baralai's brother had and I could barely remember her face.

"He'll love you. What you've done with your life." I reassured him.

"He'll love that I nearly destroyed Spira?" Baralai argued.

He was being uncharacteristically quarrelsome. Lightning fast, I had dealt him a harsh slap across the cheek. He recoiled in shock, looking at me with wide, staring eyes. I almost felt guilty. Almost.

"For Yevon's sake, Baralai!" I shouted. "That wasn't _you_! I thought we'd dealt with this!"

"Ah. I never did have good timing."

I spun round, my furious eyes ablaze, and locked eyes with an all-too-familiar chocolate brown colour. The man was not as tall as Baralai, but he was still at least six foot and had the same lanky body type. I gasped.

"I always knew you'd get a good woman." Baralai's brother continued, awkwardly, running his hands through his hair. I noted that his hair was darker than Baralai's. It was more like the general silver colour than Baralai's bleached white colour. He was just as handsome as Baralai, any day.

"Trust me, she gets better than this." Baralai replied, still massaging his cheek. I took a few steps back, not wanting to intrude on this reunion.

The two men stood, facing each other. Baralai wore his usual clothes, except for the robes which he had discarded months ago. His hair gave him even more inches on his brother's height. His brother wore his darker hair in braids down to his shoulder blades, though some shorter layers flopped around his head give him a shaggy yet rustic look. His jaw was more square than Baralai's, though they both had the same soft facial features. Although he was lanky, he was a little more muscular and looked less speedy. Their eyes and skin were exactly the same shade.

Baralai grinned. "Ross?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm still taller than you." Baralai teased.

Rosopher pouted. "Seven years and that's the first thing you say about me?" Rosopher folded his arms around his chest. "Well, _skinny-_"

"_Skinny?_" Baralai replied, his eyes widening but his mouth breaking into a smile.

I snorted.

"What?" The brothers asked, simultaneously.

I put a hand on my hip and shrugged, gesturing with my other hand. "He's like a cross between you and Gippal." I declared.

"_He_ has a name." Rosopher asserted.

I snorted again. "With a little Rikku thrown in."

Baralai smiled affectionately at me. He walked over and draped an arm across my shoulders, which I tolerated. "Paine, this is my little brother, Rosopher."

"I'm not little!" Rosopher insisted.

When Gippal and Rikku had children – I was sure they would – Rosopher would fit right in.

"You're at least half a foot over _me_." I reassured him.

"But she could still kick your butt." Baralai added, with a warning gaze. "Rosopher, this is my girlfriend, Paine."

I made a face. "Girlfriend sounds so juvenile."

"Call her your partner, then. It sounds much more businesslike." Rosopher suggested to Baralai.

"I don't mix pleasure with business." Baralai shook his head.

"Well, you'll have to. If _you're_ peace ambassador and _you're_ general, you're going to have quite a few mix-ups." Rosopher warned.

Yes, Drak had announced me as his First General, the leader of his armies. I really, really didn't want the job, but I said I'd do it for six months until he could find someone to replace me. He'd reassured me that it wouldn't take much effort – after all, there wasn't really much point to having an army anymore.

"Seven years and you haven't changed one bit." Baralai marvelled, after the silence that had followed that comment.

"Neither have you." Rosopher replied, fondly. "You're still a worrywart. And still a bit effeminate, I might-"

"_Ok,_ Rosopher, enough talking for now." Baralai interrupted, embarrassed.

I chuckled and poked him in the stomach. "Oh come on. Who's more manly in this relationship?" We locked eyes for a while, and he didn't reply. I smiled, teasingly. "Who wears a thong over their trousers?"

Baralai looked away, embarrassed. "I'm not used to anything other than Yevonite clothing."

"You don't work for Yevon anymore." Rosopher argued. "I think it's time we give you an Assass – Adenian makeover."

"Don't worry." I replied, looking at Rosopher with a scheming eye. "I'll just leave him to Rikku and Yuna."

Rosopher surveyed us with a curious eye and stepped back a little. "How long have you been together?" he asked us.

"Three months." I replied, shocked at the length of time. It seemed to have flown past.

"Nearly four." Baralai added.

"Then call her your lover, then. I think it's been enough time, and there's some weird kind of bond around you that I don't think is going to be broken anytime soon." Rosopher said, with a smile.

Baralai looked at me with a contented smile. "How does that sound?"

"Cheesy and romantic, but it's better than girlfriend any day." I replied, grinning despite myself. "Can I call you the same?"

Baralai rolled his eyes. "Did you even have to ask?"

* * *

**Hmm? What's that? Another chapter?**

_**May**_**be…=]**


End file.
